In addition to the ¼-cent sales tax Mayor Kip Holden is seeking to help finance $335 million of capital projects related to public safety, the administration also will ask voters to approve a property tax increase of 0.5 mills.
The proposed 10-year tax—if approved for the ballot by the Metro Council and then OK’d by voters in May—would raise an estimated $1.8 million per year. Those funds would be used to partially finance operations at a $16.5 million mental health facility that is one of the key projects in Holden’s proposed bond issue.
Holden released details of a proposed bond issue on Wednesday afternoon. The proposal includes a new parish prison, juvenile detention facility, public safety complex and mental health facility. When outlined on Wednesday, the plan made no mention of a property tax increase, and instead indicated all the projects would be financed via the sales tax increase.
But according to a request for agenda space submitted to the Metro Council earlier today, the additional millage is needed “for the operation and maintenance of the mental health and substance abuse restoration facility.” The council is set to take up the bond proposal at its next meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 14.
Holden said Wednesday that the substance abuse facility—which would offer 24-hour crisis intervention and care—would save taxpayers money in the long run by providing appropriate treatment to the mentally ill, rather than housing them in local jails and emergency rooms.
Unlike the proposed sales tax increase in the bond plan—which would not expire until 2040—the property tax would expire in 2025. Property owners likely would feel little impact from the additional millage. It would add about $8.75 to the annual property tax bill of a home valued at $250,000, and about $21 to a $500,000 home, according to the East Baton Rouge Parish Assessor’s Office. Because it is a parish-wide tax, the Homestead Exemption would apply.
The proposed millage would be contingent on the passage of the proposed sales tax and will appear as a separate proposal on the spring ballot.
Metro Councilman John Delgado says though he has mixed feelings about raising taxes to fund the public safety projects, he believes voters should be the ones to decide the issue and predicts the council will approve putting both measures on the May 2 ballot. —Stephanie Riegel
