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District Attorney urges $22M‑plus funding request, cites state underpayment and legal remedies
Summary
District Attorney Hiller Moore and CPA John Daly told the Metro Council the DA’s office is chronically underfunded compared with peers, proposed millage options and legislative fixes, and warned that continuing shortfalls could force legal action to compel parish funding.
District Attorney Hiller Moore introduced John Daly, the office CPA, to present the DA’s budget case to the Metro Council. Daly said East Baton Rouge’s district attorney’s office is underfunded on a per‑capita basis compared with Jefferson and Orleans parishes and that personnel costs — which can total 85–95% of the DA’s expenditures — drive the majority of the budget request.
Daly said the DA’s 2026 personnel request would substantially increase capacity; he described a proposal that included a millage option (discussed as a 3‑ or 4‑mill property tax in the hearing) that could generate roughly $16M–$24M depending on the rate and turnout. He said a tax measure that appeared on a prior ballot would have generated about $24,000,000 and that the 2026 request was in the low‑to‑mid‑$20 million range (Daly cited a figure of about $22.6M as the office’s request targets).
The DA’s presentation cited a judiciary review that allocates prosecutor positions ("warrants") unevenly across parishes, noting Orleans receives substantially more ADA warrants per capita than East Baton Rouge; Daly said Orleans receives 83, Jefferson 54 and East Baton Rouge 55 in the recent allocation he cited. He added that even additional warrants are only part of the cost: a $50,000 warrant allocation does not cover salary plus fringe and benefits, which add 20–40% more.
On remedies, Daly said the office is pursuing a mix of local revenue (millage), legislative amendments to ensure all municipalities that receive parishwide services pay a proportionate share, and targeted state appropriations; he also said mandamus or judicial remedies remain a last resort if statutory duties are not honored by local governments.
Why it matters: the DA framed the request as necessary to maintain prosecution capacity and public safety in the largest parish in Louisiana, while council members asked about tradeoffs and how additional state warrants translate into actual hires and benefits.
What’s next: councilmembers asked finance and the clerk of court for breakdowns and said they would weigh millage options and legislative outreach during the budget process.
