Crime Fighting Committee breaks down spending plan

BATON ROUGE, LA (NBC33) — The Baton Rouge Metro Council’s Crime Fighting Committee is meeting to talk about ways to curb crime in the Capitol City. The meeting focused on the possibility of including a bond on the 2011 November ballot to pay for crime fighting initiatives.

The committee was formed just days after the Metro Council shot down Mayor Holden's bond proposal [2].Holden says he supports the group's goals, but is concerned about debt on the books not looking good to credit rating agencies.

Holden states, "If our rating is downgraded, then we pay higher interest rate on any money we borrow."

The meeting was to address priorities and a funding source, which would probably come in the form of bonds.

Sheriff Sid Gautreaux states that his first priority is building a new prison.

The group's top priorities and cost estimates include: replacing the parish prison, which could cost anywhere between $150- 200 hundred million, a new juvenile complex that might cost $45 million, and a misdemeanor jail that may cost another $2.2 million.

The final go-ahead would require support from voters in the parish.

Although he may have initially been against it, the group now has the support of Mayor Holden.

"Yes we support those. We're going to move funding to get that done because we don't have the luxury not to get it done," stated the mayor.