BATON ROUGE – Despite approving one of two tax measures dealing with road repairs in East Baton Rouge, the proposal for expanding the Green Light program failed since the entire package did not pass.

Both proposals tied to the Green Light project had to be approved by voters Saturday.  Only one was - the one dealing with rededicating the existing sales tax for road projects.  A property tax proposal was defeated.  About 53% of voters rejected it. 

The property tax would have added just more than $60 to the tax bill for a $200,000 house. The tax could have generate more than $600 million and fund 45 projects. Projects would widen existing roads or build new ones.

The spending measure – officially a re-dedication of an existing, half-cent sales tax – allowed for the original cash for the Green Light project to be spent on other road-related projects like sidewalks.

The half-cent sales tax expires in 2030. It is not impacted by the decisions Saturday.

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