BATON ROUGE - For the third time, the Metro Council avoided a vote that would increase property taxes in the parish, but it may leave fire departments with a tough time maintaining and getting new equipment.Metro council member Aaron Moak had some colorful words about a fellow council member who de cided to abstain on Wednesday night's vote. Both say they're trying to save the parish money."It was upsetting," Moak said.Councilman Darryl Hurst abstained from the vote, saying he never made a promise to vote either way. Hurst's been a supporter of city-parish workers getting a pay increase, and he says he wants to wait to see the 'Thrive Baton Rouge' plan before voting yes on more taxes.Thrive Baton Rouge, the proposal Hurst says the council needs more details about, is Mayor-President Sid Edwards' latest plan which re-dedicates some of the library tax to the city-parish general fund.During an assessment year, property values go up, meaning a high tax bill. The council can then adjust the portion of the millage to be collected."Even though the value of your property is worth more, that doesn't mean that you're making more," Hurst said. "Somebody on a fixed income now has less money."Fire Chief Carroll Campbell says the money from the millage helps maintain and purchase up-to-date equipment to the standard set by insurance companies."It costs a lot of money just to run the trucks and respond to emergencies," Campbell said. "When you talk about replacing one, you talk about probably close to a million dollars."Moak worried that if the the millage doesn't pass, the ratings could go down and insurance rates could increase."I get it," Moak said. "All of my colleagues have a different opinion on it, and I respect those opinions. I appreciate them voting on it, but to not vote on it, I think that's ridiculous."Permalink| Comments ...read more read less