BATON ROUGE – East Baton Rouge voters on Saturday approved continued funding for their local library system, rejecting complaints in some quarters that a 9.5-mill property tax raised too much money for 15 branches throughout the parish.

The library tax proposal will generate $59.5 million a year for a system that pays its own way – salaries, construction and maintenance. Libraries in similar-sized cities often rely on their local government’s general funds to pay for some of their operations, local library officials said to counter arguments that they raised too much money.

The proposal enjoyed exceptional support in much of the parish. Of the parish's 329 precincts, the ballot issue lost in only 41. Most of those were in the southeastern part of the parish, where voters in 2019 created a new city of St. George. Some in the new municipality have explored whether the community should set up a separate library system.

Eleven years ago, voters parishwide approved a tax renewal by a 58-42 margin. In Saturday’s vote, the proposal passed by a nearly 2-1 margin — 47,895-26,679, according to complete but unofficial returns.

A library tax proposal went before voters last year as part of Mayor-President Sid Edwards’ “Thrive” plan. He wanted to tap funds intended for the library, Council on Aging and local pest control to help balance the city-parish budget and fund police pay raises. After the Thrive plan failed, the city-parish found other means to raise police pay.

The East Baton Rouge Parish Library has 300,000 card-holders, making it the largest system in the state.

Separate votes for the local park system and Council on Aging also passed.