BATON ROUGE — Mayor-President Sid Edwards threatened to lay off hundreds of city workers Tuesday if East Baton Rouge Parish voters don't ultimately agree to shift dedicated library funding to a general account that he could tap to increase police officer salaries. 

"If this don't happen, I'm cutting 600 jobs. We're cutting services," Edwards said at a news conference. A spokeswoman said later Edwards was deliberately using hyperbole to get his point across that the city-parish faces a major funding shortfall.

Edwards is calling his effort "Revive EBR." He would use currently library funds on public safety, infrastructure and blight reduction, among other things. 

He said money that currently goes to the East Baton Rouge Parish Library would be put to better use by tackling some of the city-parish's "most pressing challenges."

"This is a pivotal moment for Baton Rouge," Edwards said in remarks prepared for delivery at a news conference. "By using existing resources more effectively, we can address longstanding issues without placing an additional burden on taxpayers."

Edwards said we need to address public safety because "dead people can't read books."

Library patrons have been alarmed by the new mayor-president's plan. The library system's dedicated property tax is due for renewal this year.

Its leaders were hopeful to meet with the mayor about a way forward that could benefit both the library and meet city-parish needs. It wasn't clear whether Edwards was rejecting the library's overtures outright.

According to the mayor-president's plan, Revive EBR would address 
-drainage and infrastructure
-law enforcement, community policing and violence intervention programs
-expand access to mental health services
-strengthen "community programs"
-address blight and improve public spaces.

Edwards spokeswoman Falon Brown said the city-parish's funding trouble is rooted in multiple sources. In addition to the library and parks systems having their own dedicated funding streams, about $48 million in sales tax revenue generated annually in the southeast part of the parish now goes to St. George rather than into the city-parish's coffers.

Outside of essential services like fire and police protection, most city-parish agencies would see a 14.6 percent reduction in their budgets if Edwards imposes an across-the-board budget cut.