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 meeting, 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

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