BATON ROUGE - In December 2024, the Metro Council approved a five percent franchise fee to be collected from the Energy bills of some residents.Council members approved a new franchise fee, meant as a way to raise more money to fight crime across the parish.During Tuesday night's Metro Council meet ing, a resident questioned the council about the money collected from the fee."I would ask for justification on each of those operations budget about why they're being put to the operations of the city council, while we're talking about cutting the public works department," a resident said.Councilman Cleve Dunn addressed those concerns."The one that was renewed last year was the one that's in an unincorporated area. In that agreement, there was no fee; utilities were operating in the parish in the unincorporated area with no fee assessed to it. Councilwoman Racca and I objected to renewing that agreement with no fee, specifically because of the budget issues we were dealing with last year, and we knew the issues that were on our rise this year," Dunn said during the meeting.The fee was projected to generate $3.5 million, but according to Dunn, the fee overperformed, generating $4.6 million that was spread across several city-parish agencies like the 19th Judicial District Court, district attorney's office, and Baton Rouge Police Department.$1.2 million went to the Metro Council, with each member given around $105,000 for their district."To bolster their staff, utilize technology, and basically have a greater impact in their districts. Some of us hired staff members, some of us supported and sponsored events in our districts, some of us financed infrastructure projects and studies in our districts," Dunn said.But, a lawsuit filed by two Baton Rouge residents, Fred D. Reed and Sharon D. Robinson-Williams, and a business -- "Gold Enterprises LLC" -- claims the money given to each council member's district violates the state constitution and the East Baton Rouge plan of government.The suit claims that the money collected from the franchise fee was earmarked for crime prevention and community centers, but instead, it alleges council members used the money for illegal expenditures.Those expenditures include sponsorships, donations, events, and payments to private entities lacking public-purpose agreements, according to the court filing.While the lawsuit doesn't name the specific council members, it claims one member of the council used the funding to purchase a trailer with their name on it.The lawsuit calls for Metro Council members to reimburse the city-parish for the purchases made with the franchise fee money.Prior to Wednesday night's Metro Council meeting, we were able to speak with some of the council members, who told us they could not speak on pending litigation.Permalink| Comments ...read more read less