The Dewey Decimal System gets some love
EBR voters renewed the library tax by the widest margin in at least 30 years—and it wasn't close.
When the votes were counted Saturday night, all the sound and fury surrounding the library tax had signified exactly what Shakespeare promised—nothing. East Baton Rouge Parish voters did what they've done every 10 years since 1986. They renewed it. And this time by the widest margin in at least three decades.
Voters also gave a giant thumbs up to property tax renewals for BREC and the Council on Aging.
Why it matters: The precinct-by-precinct breakdown left no doubt that voters across the parish, with one exception, want a first-class library system and approve of the job that's been done over the past 10 years.
Inside the numbers: The library got 64% approval parishwide—essentially the same percentage as BREC's renewal (63.6%) and just 4 points behind the COA, a tax few fight because nobody wants to say no to senior meals and transportation.
By the book: The library tax passed decisively in Baton Rouge, Baker, Zachary and St. George. It also won approval in the parish's unincorporated areas.
- The lone exception was Central, which rejected all three proposals on the ballot.
- Any suburban opposition was dwarfed by strong support in North Baton Rouge, which earned 77.6% approval and carried every precinct.
Humpty Dumpty: Lane Grigsby, the proclaimed "king maker," may have lost his crown. The library tax is the second election in which the influential Grigsby has injected himself without achieving his desired outcome.
- He worked hard to get Jeff Landry elected governor without the need of a runoff in exchange for a constitutional convention, something that's long been on Grigsby's wish list. Landry is the governor, but there's been no convention.
- Grigsby, along with his son, underwrote the Jambalaya PAC to campaign against the library tax, spending at least $14,000 on direct mail and $1,300 on Facebook ads, according to state ethics records.
- That money spoke to the already anti-tax voters in the parish. It failed to convert any new ones.
The bottom line: Voters may not agree on much in this divided and parochial parish, but Saturday's message was clear: a first-class library is the closest thing EBR has to common ground.
