Going live: Mayor Kip Holden’s office has announced today it will be using smartphone applications, such as Periscope, to transmit real-time information and to broadcast events to Baton Rouge residents. Holden’s office has begun working with the Department of Information Services to leverage the digital mobile platforms for daily government operations, according to a news release. Periscope is a smartphone app available on iPhone and Android phones that allows users to broadcast what they are doing to an active audience. The city-parish recently used Periscope to live stream the TramLink public meeting in late January. Upcoming land-use planning meetings for the TramLink project also will be broadcast live and can be seen by following The City of Baton Rouge on Periscope, the news release says.
Downgraded: Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Louisiana’s credit rating from an Aa3 in a move that will make it more expensive for the state to borrow money for construction projects, The Daily Advertiser reports. The downgrade affects approximately $7.3 billion in outstanding debt, Moody’s says. News of the downgrade came Thursday after the Louisiana House of Representatives sent a one-cent sales tax increase and a supplemental spending bill to the Louisiana Senate. The decision by Moody’s Investors Service to drop the state’s credit rating is another blow to Louisiana which is teetering on the edge of financial calamity, The Associated Press reports. Moody’s changed the state’s credit outlook from stable to negative in February 2015. The last downgrade occurred in November and December 2005 after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Prior to 2005, the last Moody’s downgrade occurred in 1987. Moody’s has more details on the downgrade.
Doing better: East Baton Rouge Parish sales and use tax collections were up 3.07% in December 2015 compared to the prior year. Year-to-date collections reflected a 2.76% increase from the year before, according to a monthly report of recurring sales and use tax collections provided by the city-parish Finance Department. According to the report, vehicle tax collections rose in December in both the city and parish after falling in November. Sales tax collections also rose in the city after declining the month before. Roughly $185 million was collected in sales and vehicle taxes combined in 2015, versus the roughly $180 million in 2014. The majority of those taxes came from city, which collected approximately $104 million in sales and vehicle taxes while the combined taxes collected from the parish was roughly $81 million. Read the full report.
