Baton Rouge Parish Library outlines service cuts and frozen positions after millage renewal failed

Katrina Stokes, executive director of the Baton Rouge Parish Library, told the Metropolitan Council the library’s revenue model depends heavily on a voter‑approved 10‑year dedicated tax. She said the library planned for rollbacks and, after a recent millage renewal failed, must operate on savings and a reduced budget until voters approve new revenues — which the library said would not produce receipts before 2027.

Stokes said the proposed FY2026 budget was prepared in May 2025 and that staff began freezing 72 vacant positions earlier in the year to avoid abrupt service interruptions. She described operational tradeoffs the library would make to preserve core services: reduced book purchases, pausing most capital transfers while carrying forward emergency work such as boilers and chillers, and slowing timelines on renovations while trying to maintain 15 locations and bookmobile outreach.

Library leaders provided usage metrics to underscore public reliance on services: roughly 68% of parish residents hold library cards, the system reports more than 1.5 million visits as of December 1, and the library estimated 122,000 active cardholders in the prior 12 months. Staff described workforce, literacy and small‑business programs, and said they would protect digital collections and key databases despite reduced budgets.

Councilmembers asked technical questions about cardholder counts, reciprocal borrowing, and the library’s operating assumptions. Stokes answered that a failed renewal forces a reliance on fund balances and urged council support for a measured path to sustain services while pursuing a new revenue vote.