Published in The Advocate Nov 19, 2025
I’m concerned that Mayor-President Sid Edwards and the Metro Council may get the wrong message from Saturday’s defeat of the three Thrive tax propositions.
I voted against all three because I could not support the practice of taking part of dedicated funds to pay for other priorities. I believed that if voters approved Thrive, we could expect to see more of what to me looked like fiscal hostage-taking.
The East Baton Rouge Parish Library System has been an excellent steward of the funds voters elected to dedicate to it. The money the library saved to pay for future capital improvements without the need to issue bonds is evidence of that. Taking some of that money to pay down the parish’s debt was not something I was willing to support with my vote.
As someone with a particular interest in public health, I also strongly support the parish’s Mosquito Abatement and Rodent Control program as well as the Council on Aging, but again was not willing to contribute to setting a precedent of asking voters to fund these essential services with a provision to take a portion of the funds (as much as half in the case of mosquito abatement) for other priorities.
I strongly urge the Metro Council to put dedicated millages for the library, mosquito abatement and the Council on Aging back on the ballot in spring 2026 without any rededications. Additional funding needed by the parish should be put to a vote as a separate, dedicated millage for that purpose, accompanied by a detailed plan for how that money will be spent.
I am not anti-tax. I, along with many other East Baton Rouge Parish residents, am against funding the parish’s needs the way Thrive proposed to do it: “Vote for my money grab, or the library gets it.”
BEATRICE WINKLER
Baton Rouge