BATON ROUGE – Officials will once again ask voters to approve a property tax to fund a mental health facility.

Metro Council will discuss adding the tax to a December election in the coming weeks. The council must approve the election before voters weigh-in.

The tax would be 1.5 mills, or about $20 on the average residential property receiving homestead exemption.

Authorities have expressed the need, suggesting a specialized facility would help with jail overcrowding and be a place for offenders in need of specialized treatment to be housed and cared-for instead of booked into jail with more violent inmates.

A similar proposal failed in the 2016 election.

The latest proposal, if approved by voters, would be collected in 2019 and the following nine years.

The decision would come on the same election where voters would also be asked to approve a sales tax to pay for road work in East Baton Rouge.

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