Holden to try again on tax

• By GREG GARLAND
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Jul 20, 2009

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Reprints
• Twitter
• Share

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

Mayor-President Kip Holden is set to unveil details Wednesday of an ambitious, $887 million capital-improvement bond program modeled closely after one narrowly defeated by East Baton Rouge Parish voters last year.

Mike Futrell, the mayor’s chief administrative officer, said the tax and bond proposal, set to appear on the ballot Nov. 14, will include money for projects that are long overdue.

These include a new Parish Prison and fire stations, drainage improvement projects, traffic signal synchronization and other projects identical to those in last year’s proposal, Futrell said.

The tax issue also will again include riverfront-development projects for downtown Baton Rouge, which are regarded as a key to the region’s future economic growth and development, Futrell said.

“No new proposals  have been added, but some projects have been deleted,” he said.

Holden plans to unveil details of the tax package in a presentation to the Metro Council at 2 p.m. Wednesday, shortly before the start of the council’s regular meeting, Futrell said.

Holden has said previously that he intends to ask voters for around $880 million, about $100 million less than  was in the proposal on last year’s ballot.

The money would be raised through a combination of a half-cent sales tax and a 9.9-mill property-tax increase.

The administration was able to pare back the cost of capital improvements by $100 million by deleting some projects in last year’s proposal, Futrell said.

City-parish officials used federal hurricane-recovery money to handle some projects, such as bridge repairs and replacement, he said. Hurricane Gustav struck on Sept. 1, causing extensive damage throughout the region.

Futrell also noted that a new taxing district is being drawn that excludes Baker, Zachary and Central. Projects for those communities were therefore deleted from this year’s tax proposal.

The Metro Council is slated to vote at its meeting on a taxing district that excludes residents of those three cities from participation. The new taxes would apply only to those who live inside Baton Rouge and in unincorporated areas of the parish.

When the tax issue was proposed last year, it failed by a narrow margin, with 87,393 voting in favor and 90,464 voting against it.