At least five Metro Council members say they will likely join their colleagues John Delgado and Ryan Heck in rejecting the Library Board’s surprise request to seek a tax increase from voters later this year. Three other council members are undecided.
At Thursday night’s meeting, the board voted 4-2 to ask the council to put on a fall ballot a millage increase that would raise property taxes from 10.78 mills to 11.1 mills. The vote caught many off guard, as the board—which has a surplus of some $57 million— had recently indicated it would be amenable to lowering its millage, something Heck and Delgado have been urging.
“I don’t understand where they’re coming from asking for more taxes when they have a surplus,” says Councilmember Trae Welch. “I’m going to be talking to the individual board members to find out what their thoughts are because those board members get appointed by the council and I want to know what they were thinking when they decided to go and ask for more money.”
The current millage generates about $40 million per year for the system. The library’s proposed budget includes renovations to four libraries and a staff increase of eight positions over the next 10 years. Board members argued Thursday that keeping the property tax at 10.7 mills would only enable the system to “scrape by.”
But Metro Council members Buddy Amoroso, Chandler Loupe, Denise Marcelle and Scott Wilson agree with Delgado, Heck and Welch that a tax increase is hardly warranted for the system, especially when so many other parish agencies are barely making ends meet.
“There are so many other entities that need dedicated tax sources in order to maintain what they’ve got, I certainly could not see myself raising the millage for the libraries,” Marcelle says. “No ma’am, that is certainly not something I could support.”
Adds Wilson: “They’re one of the highest paid entities on the tax rolls. On the surface, I don’t see how I could support it.”
Loupe says though he has not seen the library board’s budget and has not yet made a final decision, “last year’s budget would not support the need for a tax increase.”
Councilmembers Joel Boe, Donna Collins-Lewis and Tara Wicker say they’re undecided at this point. Though none is enthusiastic about the tax increase, they want more information before making a decision.
“I’m undecided right now,” Collins-Lewis says. “But if that’s what the people want then we should put it on the ballot. But we don’t know yet. We’ll start getting emails on this from constituents soon.”
Council member Ronnie Edwards says she does support the millage increase, noting that she is very supportive of the parish library system in general and applauds the way they have managed their finances over the years. Council member Chauna Banks-Daniel could not be reached for comment this morning. —Stephanie Riegel
This story has been updated from an earlier version to include comments from Councilmember Edwards.
