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# Feeding seniors or building empires?
- URL: https://www.redeyebr.com/feeding-seniors-or-building-empires/
- Published: 2026-03-25T21:52:26.000Z
- Updated: 2026-03-25T21:52:26.000Z
- Author: JR Ball
- Tags: Governing, News

A state audit of the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging shows the agency closed fiscal year 2025 with a net position of $16.3 million—a healthy balance sheet for a nonprofit that was running on $3.2 million a year before EBR voters approved a dedicated property tax in 2016.

**Why it matters:** No one questions whether seniors need meals, transportation and housing support. The harder question—one that's followed the COA since the millage passed—is **whether a tripling of revenue has kept pace with its mission, or quietly expanded it.**

**Clean audit:** Total revenue held at $16.3 million against $14.1 million in expenses, according to the [audit](https://app2.lla.state.la.us/publicreports.nsf/0/7ef51b04522a743386258dbe0050afda/$file/0000a0be.pdf?openelement&.7773098&ref=redeyebr.com).

**The dependency problem:** Property taxes now account for nearly **75 cents of every COA dollar**—$12.1 million of $16.3 million in total revenue. Federal and state grants fell 23%. Unrestricted contributions dropped more than 50%. It's worth asking whether the guaranteed millage revenue has dulled the agency's appetite for pursuing grants and outside dollars as aggressively as it once had to.

**The growth question:** The COA's budget more than tripled after the 2016 millage—from $3.2 million to over $10 million by 2018, and $16.3 million today. Since the millage passed, the agency has invested $27 million in capital projects, including a new headquarters and senior centers. Whether that build-out reflects smart long-term investment or mission creep is a question EBR voters haven't been directly asked to answer.

**What's next:** The original 10-year tax expires this year. The COA is asking voters to renew it at 2 mills—down from the original 2.25—on the June 27 ballot. The ask follows November's failed Thrive EBR proposition, which would have locked in a similar structure.

**The bottom line:** The COA has delivered 8.4 million meals and serves 25,500 older adults annually. That record is real. But a June vote on a $12 million-a-year revenue stream deserves more than a rubber stamp—it deserves a clear accounting of what the money built and why, and whether the nonprofit has become too dependent upon property tax dollars.