BATON ROUGE - In a unanimous vote, the Metro Council voted yes on the formation of a task force to analyze city-parish funds Wednesday.

The city-parish is grappling with the financial aftermath of the formation of the city of St. George, which is expected to cut city-parish revenue by nearly $40 million this year.

Metro Council members are looking for ways to make ends meet. The chairman of the task force, District 4 Councilman Aaron Moak, says this is not about raising or lowering taxes. The goal is to set up a long-term balanced budget.

"A lot of these taxes have been passed and voted on over and over again over many years and decades. Let's put a whole package together and analysis to re-present to the public and say 'Hey, are these still your priorities?' It's about what is the priority of the parish and what does the public want to see out of their tax dollars," Moak said. 

The task force will include picks from several government departments and some non-profit groups for a total of 11 people. Some departments include a designee from the Metro Council, Mayor-President's office, BRAC, LSU and the Southern University Department of Economics chair.

They will examine 'every single taxing authority' and assess their needs.

"Where are you at now with your spending? What do you have allocated? What do you have as a surplus? What are you deficient in and is there any leeway to give and take or possibly reallocate to somewhere else?", Moak said. 

Moak says he is looking to have a report to present to the public by the end of the year.