re: How is the OT Going to Vote on THRIVE?

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Everybody with an education knows what it is. 'nough said.

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well i'm not googling it to figure it out, nor do i care about this insult, as i assume it's some sort of insult.

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Show me where that's in the plan

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ESSENTIAL SERVICES!!!!!!

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I've read the entire Thrive Plan proposal

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where is this proposal? provide a link please.

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nowhere in it does it say money will be re-directed to a "city only" general fund. It's going into a parish general fund.

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I didn't say it was going to go into a "city only" fund.
It's going into the CITY-PARISH general fund, and we all konw what that means.





Here's some fun reading:
Mayors press release

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It is important that we align our recurring revenues with our operational expenses. The General Fund budget is proposed to be reduced by approximately $15 million, which demonstrates a full year of transitioning for the loss of revenue due to the incorporation of the City of St. George — which is a revenue loss of approximately $50 million over two years.

We are not in a position to use one-time fund balance resources to support recurring operations. Best practice is to maintain reserves equal to at least two months of operating costs; however, we currently have just over one month. Using our limited reserves to fund ongoing expenses would be fiscally irresponsible and could jeopardize our long-term financial stability.

Our community stands at a critical turning point. The General Fund continues to face significant fiscal challenges.

As you are aware, the voters will have an opportunity to vote for THRIVE on November 15th, which will mitigate some of the General Fund reductions. However, the 2026 budget I am presenting today for the General Fund does not include funding from THRIVE.

Reductions in the workforce is part of the overall strategy to stabilize operations, protect essential services, and maintain our reserves. Personnel costs make up the largest share of the General Fund operating budget and difficult decisions cannot be avoided. The proposed General Fund workforce reduction is 33%, excluding Police and Fire.

Without additional resources, the General Fund will be unable to sustain current service levels in 2026, and it is important for everyone to understand the impact this will have on community services.

Support for outside agencies, such as the Public Defender, Arts Council, Food Bank, and Live After Five, is proposed to continue through interest earnings from the American Rescue Plan. Without approval of THRIVE, these agencies will be required to secure new funding sources in 2027 to maintain their operations.

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where is this proposal? provide a link please.

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Nah. If you can't do a simple internet search then there's really no hope for you. You must be a Democrat.

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DPW comes out of the city/Parish fund. So, all of the Parish’s roads and drainage are funded from that source.

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How can posters on this board not know this simple fact?

We have a big storm water obligation to meet. Half of our parish flooded both in and outside of BR.

Fortunately, we have a lot of federal money, but not enough to dredge almost the principal waterways and to maintain them,

Our DA needs help. I voted down his property tax because our property taxes are too high. This plan gets him vital funds using taxes I already pay. This is big.

I’d like to see our Sheriff get what he needs to patrol more and to work more with BRPD.

The rain doesn’t care where our city limits are, and neither do the gangs and thugs who steal, rape, murder, and poison us with drugs.

If my property taxes go to better EBR and not to the library, the COA, and MARC and those agencies can maintain their services, it’s a no brainer.

Could there be a better plan? Sure, but Sid got this one passed uniting all factions. It’s the best thing for EBR.

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Nah. If you can't do a simple internet search then there's really no hope for you. You must be a Democrat.

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that's cute.

I found this presentation

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2.8 mills of the annual millage will be re-allocated to the City-Parish General Fund for “Parish General Purposes,” with a net $16.24 Million to be applied annually to parish-wide Infrastructure needs for the Stormwater Master Plan and Street Maintenance Projects

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i have zero problems with this as a st. george resident.

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The Library will make a one-time re-allocation of $52.4 Million from its Fund Balance, which will be used to pay down the Parish-Wide General Fund Debt

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$52.4M huh? I wonder why?

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The General Fund budget is proposed to be reduced by approximately $15 million, which demonstrates a full year of transitioning for the loss of revenue due to the incorporation of the City of St. George — which is a revenue loss of approximately $50 million over two years.

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What i gather from the presentation is that $16.24M annually will be realloacted from the library, $2.9M from Mosquito Abatement, and $1.45M from COA all for stormwater and street maintenance.

I have zero problems with that. Would vote yes for that.

What i have a problem with is the Library transferring $52.4M and Mosquito transferring $6M to the City-Parish General Fund. That's a no vote. That's money that is highly likely going to be spent on the city of Baton Rouge, which I am not ok with. I mean they literally spell it out for you when they complain that St. George is taking $50M from them.

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Those thieves at the council on aging are salivating hoping to get their greedy hands on it.

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That's not what Thrive does. It actually takes money from COA. It's renewing the 2.25 mill tax for COA but taking .25 away and putting it in the General Fund.

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Then do it the right way and not link it to the library renewal. Let it stand on it’s own merits.

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I agree with you on this part. I’m not sure why they don’t have 4 proposals on the ballot. One for 3.9 mils for the general fund, one for 8.5 for the library, 1.5 for mosquito abatement and another for 2 mills for the CoA?

I disagree with your idiocy that you can capitalize and bold city in CITY/Parish to make your argument that the money is only going to the city of BR and completely ignore the parish part of city/PARISH. That’s really dumb and disingenuous.

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That's not what Thrive does. It actually takes money from COA. It's renewing the 2.25 mill tax for COA but taking .25 away and putting it in the General Fund.

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Why not just let them stand on their own is my question? It’s a renewal, not a reeducation.

I agree that perfect is the enemy of good. I’ll probably vote yes for 1 and 2. Those are good programs, but I’d rather just see the libraries funding renewed with a cut. I’m conflicted on renewing the CoA tax.

I'm voting no because I don't want to pay any more taxes. All my Dem friends are also voting no but more of a protest because they think this somehow bails SG out.

So we're all apparently voting no but for different reasons.

In the end, frick Baton Rouge and the albatross they created. Have fun getting out of this one, losers.

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So the library gets 2 bites at their tax renewal apple.

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Vote it down again. If I was still there I'd vote down every single tax, new or renewal.