West Baton Rouge Parish voters have decided to keep their local public health unit funded for another decade, narrowly approving a 1.75-mill property tax renewal in the November 3, 2026, election that will be levied from 2027 through 2036. The measure received 51% of the vote, a close result for the clinic that serves roughly 1,200 patients a month.
The renewal, confirmed by WBRZ, applies to all property subject to taxation in West Baton Rouge Parish and will fund the public health unit’s maintenance, operation and capital costs over the next ten years. Without the renewal, the parish stood to lose a funding stream that officials said covers a significant share of the clinic’s budget.
Ahead of the vote, parish president Jason Manola laid out the stakes in blunt financial terms. He said the health unit’s operating costs run about $1.1 million a year, while the dedicated 1.75-mill tax generates around $1.3 million in revenue, according to WAFB. Manola warned that if voters rejected the renewal, the parish would have to re-evaluate its general fund budget to make up for the lost money.
What the Clinic Actually Does
The health center at the center of the vote serves all ages and handles a steady stream of monthly visits, according to the same WAFB report. Services include vaccines, WIC assistance, reproductive health care and basic screenings — routine, preventive care for the community.
With roughly 1,200 people walking through its doors every month, the unit functions as a primary access point for parish residents who might otherwise have to travel farther for similar services. That volume is part of why the tax renewal carried real weight beyond a line item on a ballot.
Two Other Tax Renewals Failed in a Separate Election
In a separate election on March 29, 2025, West Baton Rouge Parish residents rejected renewals for both drainage and library funding, a result also reported by WBRZ.
A proposed 7.2-mill, ten-year drainage tax renewal failed outright in the March 29, 2025 election, with 54% voting no, according to Yahoo News. That tax would have raised around $5.9 million a year for maintenance, operations and construction costs as needed, per WBRZ's reporting on the drainage and library measures. A 4.1-mill library tax renewal met a similar fate, failing with 55% voting no and leaving $3.362 million in potential annual funding on the table, the same Yahoo report noted.
Taken together, the results from separate elections paint a mixed picture of how West Baton Rouge voters weighed competing funding priorities — keeping the health unit's narrower, smaller-dollar tax alive while turning down larger renewals tied to drainage infrastructure and the library system.
