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Last week, the Metro Council declined to roll forward the millage rate for the East Baton Rouge Council on Aging—a decision that the COA says is sure to create funding challenges going forward.
According to Angell Kennedy, the COA’s chief marketing and information officer, the nonprofit wants to avoid cutting services at all costs and is currently exploring its options in the wake of the Metro Council’s vote.
“We do not want to cut services to our seniors,” Kennedy tells Daily Report via email. “The agency is researching and reviewing all possible avenues for additional funding that could potentially offset the loss.”
When property values rise after reassessment, property tax rates—or millage rates—are automatically lowered to adjust for the increased value of the tax base. However, the Metro Council has the authority to “roll forward” those rates, which means keeping them at their original levels instead of lowering them. Rolling forward allows more revenue to be collected due to higher property values.
At its Wednesday meeting, the Metro Council chose not to raise the COA’s millage rate back to its original level of 2.13 mills. As a result, the COA will not receive additional revenue despite higher property values. Instead, it will continue to collect at its automatically “rolled back” rate of 2 mills.
In a Facebook post, the COA calls the Metro Council’s decision “devastating.”
“This decision puts programs and services that are imperative to the quality of life for East Baton Rouge Parish seniors in danger [and] threatens our ability to meet the increasing demand to serve the needs of a vulnerable population,” the COA writes.
In 2017, Business Report reported on the COA’s long history of mismanaging public funds, though the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s most recent audit of the organization showed no signs of current mismanagement.
When asked what had changed within the COA in recent years to clean up its financial activity, Kennedy responded with the following:
“Those allegations were completely unfounded. Under the current administration, the COA has acted aboveboard, fiscally sound and as astutely as possible. The COA operates with full transparency. The allocation of funds is visible and tangible through both meals served and the expansion of our footprint and growth in all corners of the parish.”
The COA was established in 1973 to provide for the welfare of seniors in East Baton Rouge Parish through food and nutrition programs, health screenings, insurance counseling and similar services. It is one of dozens of councils on aging spread across Louisiana.
