BATON ROUGE, LA – The Metro Council approved funding this week to help keep the East Baton Rouge District Attorney’s office functioning, while confirming the parish library system’s $140 million reserve must remain untouched in case 14 million books are checked out and never returned.
The council approved roughly $1.3 million in emergency funds to help cover staffing shortages and mounting caseloads at the DA’s office, which officials say has been struggling to keep up with the steady pace of crime and paperwork.
District Attorney Hillar Moore said the money will help the office continue operations “for at least a little while,” though he acknowledged the broader funding issues remain unresolved.
Several council members briefly discussed whether the parish library’s massive reserve could help cover the shortfall, but the idea was quickly dismissed.
Library officials warned that tapping into the funds could leave the system dangerously exposed if millions of borrowers simultaneously failed to return their books.
“People forget how quickly things can spiral out of control,” one Library official said. “All it takes is 14 million overdue copies of The Hunger Games and we can’t pay the cleaning service to dismantle the homeless encampments on the 3rd floor for the 4th time this month.”
