BATON ROUGE - Voters in East Baton Rouge Parish rejected a property tax that would raise money for the East Baton Rouge District Attorney's staff, according to complete but unofficial results.

EBR DA Hillar Moore said the money, generated through a 4-mill property tax to raise $24 million annually, is needed to keep salaries competitive to other parishes in the state, expand staff and attack a case backlog.

For a house valued at $200,000, a 4-mill property tax would've cost $80 a year.

Moore spoke with WBRZ regarding the results, as unofficial results have the measure losing by 20% with all precincts reporting.

"We're disappointed but we respect the voters like we respect the juries when they come back not in our favor," Moore said. "I think the city, the residents of the entire parish are weary of elections, weary of taxes and some parts, maybe some more than others, feel that they are already paying enough taxes that should support the offices. Truth of the matter is that not everyone in the parish is paying taxes that support our constitutional offices, which is not only fund the district attorney, but the [public defenders] and the coroner.

Moore also said that the office's feelings "go out to the employees and to the victims of crime" and that he felt as though he let those people down.