BATON ROUGE — Mayor-President Sid Edwards and the parish library system announced Tuesday that they came to a compromise after weeks of concern over a portion of the library's budget possibly being reallocated to other sources.

"I am very happy to say, that after much deliberation in many meetings with community stakeholders, leaders, councilmembers and the mayor's office, we have reached a workable solution," Executive Director of the East Baton Rouge Parish Library Katrina Stokes said.

The new funding plan — Thrive! Baton Rouge — would see funds stay dedicated to the library system while also funding a comprehensive general fund that will be used to "drive the parish forward," District 9 Councilman Dwight Hudson said.

Thrive! Baton Rouge will see $48.14 million budgeted to the library annually through a dedicated millage of 8.3 mills. The plan also outlines a one-time rededication of $52.4 million to pay off city-parish debt which would generate an additional $9.4 million.

The library system will retain one year of operating revenue in fund balance, a spokesperson for the mayor-president said.

Library officials say talks of a compromise have been going on for a month. They feel the community support played a huge role in the outcome.

"The millage level is indeed a level at which we can keep those promises and keep our buildings open. The most important thing is that we keep our dedicated millage. That is what we wanted most. So many people have reached out to us. We've heard their voices, we've heard their opinions. We appreciate them. It did help us in going forward with the talks that we had with out community leaders in order to try to reach this point," Stokes said.

Additionally, the plan outlines $36.89 million in a "flexible general fund" that can be used across the parish on various programs. A 2.8 mills millage will be rededicated from the library to this fund.

A portion of Mosquito Abatement and Rodent Control’s secondary millage will be renewed at .35 mills, while the remainder, .65 mills, will be renewed and rededicated to the parish-wide general purpose fund. A one-time rededication of $13.25 million from the department's fund balance will support budget stabilization, allowing the department to retain one year of operating revenue in its fund balance.

To pay for the rest of the general fund, the Parish General Alimony Millage will be renewed at 4 mills, the mayor's office said. The Thrive! Baton Rouge plan will not increase voter-approved millage rates, the mayor's office added.

An estimated $21 million will be set aside to stabilize the city-parish budget before being programmed into future budgets.

"That will mean no layoffs across the city-parish," Hudson said.

A major part of the fund will be used for a city-parish-wide workforce optimization initiative, with $13 million being used to invest in the parish-wide workforce, specifically their compensation packages.

"We want to be sure that...we're looking at the benefits package. We know from looking at the pay study that was done that we've got to get that package in order," Hudson said. "We also recognize we have to change the way we handle our retirement as retirement debt continues to grow."

A 401k retirement plan will also be part of the workforce optimization section of Thrive! Baton Rouge. The Council on Aging will also renew and rededicate .25 of their existing millage as part of the plan.

The revised funding plan will entirely replace Edwards' previously proposed funding reallocation plan Revive EBR.

"Everything has a connotation," Edwards said, addressing the initiative's name change. "Thrive is going forward for our entire parish, to do just that: Thrive."

Edwards said there is no reason to have the previous plan on the ballot. He added that the difference is mostly semantic but the plan's architects still plan to address public safety, infrastructure and blight reduction.

"Now that we've all agreed on this, we're going to go over the next hurdle and see where it's best in our priorities for all our money to be spent," Edwards said, noting that the exact amounts outlined in the original Revive EBR plan may change.

The new plan will be introduced at the Metro Council meeting in two weeks and will be voted on in April.