LPL Millage Renewal on the May 16 Ballot
On May 16, voters across Lafayette Parish will have an important opportunity to support the future of our public libraries by renewing one of our existing library millages. It’s important to note that this is not a new tax, but rather a renewal which provides 65% of the funding that keeps our libraries open, staffed, and able to serve everyone in our community.
Our mission at LCAC is to protect the freedom to read, oppose efforts to remove or restrict access to books, and ensure that our public libraries remain spaces where everyone can explore ideas without limitation. But defending intellectual freedom requires more than advocacy—it requires strong, stable funding and broad community support. A well-funded library system is better equipped to maintain diverse collections, offer inclusive programming, and serve the needs of all residents without political interference.
The funding this millage supplies will also help fund important library expansion and upgrade projects, such as the new Northeast Library and the expansion/renovations happening at both the South Regional and North Regional branches.
Don’t forget where we were less than ten years ago, when we lost one of our millages due to low voter turnout and a last minute campaign to defund the library by then newly-formed Citizens for a New Louisiana. This was followed in short order by another election that allowed the parish to take $10 million of our fund balance for drainage projects that did NOTHING to fix drainage.
Early voting is happening now, May 2–9, with the general election taking place on May 16. The library millage is NOT one of the amendments, but rather a separate item at the bottom of your ballot.
LPL Board of Control Monthly meeting
18 May 2026
On the agenda:
- 2027 Fiscal Year Budget
Agenda
Meeting Audio
Meeting Video
Meeting Minutes
Proposed Budget 2026-2027
Budget Narrative 2026-2027
Pro-Forma 2026-2027 (Projections)
LPL Board of Control Monthly Meeting
As everyone knows by now, the May 16 LPL millage failed. The good news, according to library Director Danny Gillane, is that there are three additional opportunities to bring the issue before the voters – the next being in December of this year.
Consensus among most election experts is that the library millage suffered the same fate as LCG’s public health and roads renewal last spring. Both measures shared the ballot with a string of wildly unpopular proposed constitutional amendments; the “vote no on all” campaigns against the amendments taking out any local proposals as well. Luckily, when those millage were brought back before voters in the fall they passed by a comfortable margin, and we predict that will happen in this case as well.
At the May Board of Control meeting, board members discussed their thoughts and concerns regarding this recent setback. Alan Moore delivered a prepared statement stating that the library was open to hearing from voters and library patrons about the millage, though it inaccurately stated that the library would have only one more opportunity to place the millage back on the ballot.
May is when library administration puts forth their proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, giving the public and the board the opportunity to see detailed projections for revenue and spending, after which the board votes to approve and send it along to the parish council for their annual review in August. This (mostly) simple process was complicated this year by Moore’s concerns regarding the loss of the millage.
Gillane presented the board with a budget drawn up before the election loss, created with the assumption that the millage would pass. Given the healthy state of the library’s fund balance, the history of other parish millages attached to unpopular constitutional amendments passing at a later date, and the fact that the library has three more opportunities to ask voters to approve the millage before it expires, Gillane and his staff felt that it was too early to begin drawing up doomsday projections of a library sans 65% of its yearly income. (Doomsday is accurate, too – Gillane says that if the millage does end up failing permanently, the library might be forced to close all but a couple of branches plus Main.)
Moore, however, disagreed, saying that he felt like he was on his heels “looking to approve a budget that was just cut.” Initially asking Gillane if the budget process could be delayed to create alternate scenarios (it couldn’t), Moore ultimately voted not to move the budget forward, though thankfully the other board members present voted yes. The budget now goes before the parish council, where no doubt discussions will continue.
May’s News
- Lafayette Parish Library’s millage on the ballot May 16 (The Acadiana Advocate)
- Lafayette Public Library System (Discover Lafayette)
- Editorial: Support our local libraries by renewing tax (Nola.com)
- After millage renewal failure, library system wonders where it went wrong (The Current)
- Lafayette Parish Library Tax renewal fails in May 16 election (KLFY)
- Funding for Lafayette Public Library System in jeopardy after voters reject tax renewal (KATC)
Lafayette Parish Library Loses $9 Million Tax Renewal. It Could Impact Your Local Branch. (KPEL)
COLUMN: Local millage renewals failed, exposing a much bigger problem (The Current)
- Lafayette library tax rejected; supporters plan new strategy (KLFY)
- Lafayette Parish voters reject public library property tax renewal (The Acadiana Advocate)
- Lafayette voters reject library tax renewal (The Daily Advertiser)
Lafayette Library Has Until December to Save Its Branches. Here’s What the Board Heard Monday. (KPEL)