Metro Council members Tara Wicker and Barbara Freiberg and Mayor Sharon Weston Broome are set to introduce at Wednesday’s Metro Council meeting a revived tax proposal to fund a mental health and substance abuse center.
The 1.5-mill property tax, previously estimated to generate some $5.8 million a year, would fund the proposed Bridge Center. It’s designed to divert people struggling with mental illnesses from going to jail. The tax proposal was defeated at the ballot box in 2016, with 51% of voters voting it down. It was set to be reintroduced last year before being yanked from the agenda.
The new proposal will be similar to the one voters rejected, but Wicker says the parish is in a different place than it was for the past election, when people were readjusting to life after the August 2016 flood.
“We know mental health issues, especially post flood, is something that we need to deal with,” Wicker says.
Although Freiberg wasn’t on the council when the measure appeared on the 2016 ballot, she says she was disappointed when it failed. Though uncertain about whether it will pass this time, she thinks an anti-tax sentiment among voters after the controversial Council on Aging tax and a misunderstanding of where the tax dollars were to be spent is what led to its initial downfall.
“This time I think there will be more information disseminated on exactly what this tax does, and that information will show the taxpayer that it’s not something we’re spending a lot of money on without reaping benefits,” Freiberg says.
Representatives with the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, which first crafted the idea for the center, couldn’t be reached for comment this afternoon.
Should the council approve introducing the item at Wednesday’s meeting, the proposal would be up for a public hearing at the Aug. 8 meeting. If approved by the Metro Council, the tax would appear on the Dec. 8 ballot.
The Metro Council meets 4 p.m. Wednesday at City Hall, 222 St. Louis St. See the full agenda.
