Baton Rouge - The city-parish is facing another major hole in the upcoming budget left by the incorporation of St. George.

During an East Baton Rouge Special Metro Council Meeting Wednesday evening, members moved forward with a change to the healthcare coverage offered to EBR city-parish retirees that is expected to save the city millions.

"So last year, as we were embarking upon anticipating the effects of the St. George pull-out and what that would have on the budget, we looked at a number of things and how we can enhance and maintain the services that we provide to the citizens," Metro Council member Cleve Dunn Jr. said.

According to Dunn, one of the ways is through healthcare.

The Medicare Advantage Plan includes a Medicare privatized plan. It will not only provide significant savings for retirees, but it also contributes to hefty budget savings for the East Baton Rouge City-Parish government of an estimated 19 million dollars.

"There were contractual changes that have already taken place, with the coordination of benefits they have already put in place. There is a continued study with pharmacy benefit plan designs that may be changed, but those might be in 2026, looking at the 2027 year. The retiree benefits and their changes are just another portions of that money towards $19 million dollars," Metro Council member Jennifer Racca said.

The city-parish currently faces a deficit of more than $21 million in the 2026 budget.

"We have money that we are paying, I think somewhere between $5-6 million a month towards St. George, that's created a pretty big, deep, significant hole in the budget that we are accustomed to. So any type of money that comes in or is saved from other places absolutely has an impact," Racca said.

Officials have scrambled to find ways to fill those gaps.

"Let's just start with, we need the money. We have Thrive that's coming up on the ballot in November, we have to try to find revenue to bring into our city and to our parish," Racca said.

Metro Council members believe that if passed the Thrive EBR plan -- which will see dedicated funding for the library, the Council on Aging, and mosquito abatement moved to the general fund -- will allow them to fill the rest of those gaps and give the city-parish more stability.

"We need the money. So anywhere this money goes, whether it's a million, whether it's $19 million, whatever, we can use it to not cut services to our people, to not raise taxes to our people throughout the parish. Whatever we can do to stop that from happening is what we've been working towards," Racca said.

Medicare changes start October for City-parish retirees aged 65 and older, and voters will see Thrive on their Nov. 15 ballot.