BATON ROUGE - As East Baton Rouge leaders prepare the city-parish budget for the next year, it's clear the city is strapped for cash.

Just months into his job as Mayor-President, Sid Edwards introduced what eventually became the Thrive EBR plan, which would have reallocated funds within the city-parish to pay down debts and compensate employees competitively. After seven months, the plan went to voters, but ultimately did not pass.

When the tax plan was first announced, it came with the promise of a pay raise for certain departments. Since voters defeated the tax plan Saturday night, jobs have already been cut in the mayor-president's office, though it's not clear what impact that will have on the future of those proposed raises.

As was outlined in the proposed city-parish budget presen

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