BATON ROUGE — A major funding dispute is now headed to court in East Baton Rouge Parish, where Hillar Moore is suing the city-parish government over what he calls inadequate funding for his office.

Moore said in the lawsuit that he has exhausted all other options to secure the money he believes is necessary to fight crime and properly run the District Attorney’s Office.

Last year, voters rejected a tax proposal that would have raised about $22 million annually for the office. Moore said that failure left him with no choice but to seek funding through the courts, arguing the money is required by law.

City-parish leaders said they have already increased funding, but must balance multiple priorities across the criminal justice system.

Darryl Hurst said the Louisiana Constitution requires the parish to “adequately” fund the District Attorney’s Office, but called that standard subjective based on available resources.

“The constitution says that we have to adequately fund his office. Adequate is a very generalized word based on the budget that we have. And so we gave him more, but we also gave the public defender more,” Hurst said.

Hurst emphasized that funding decisions affect more than just prosecutors, pointing to the role of public defenders in moving cases through the court system.

“And what I want people to know is that you can give Hillar Moore a hundred million dollars, but if you don't fund the public defender's office, it doesn't speed the process up,” he said.

Moore argued that additional funding would help stabilize staffing and allow for expanded prevention and diversion programs.

Hurst also pushed back on the idea that the District Attorney’s Office directly prevents crime.

“Hillar’s a response to crime; he does not stop crime. He puts away bad actors,” he said.

He added that Baton Rouge taxpayers currently carry most of the financial burden for constitutional offices.

“Baton Rouge is the only city responsible for constitutional office, which means we pay for everything. So Baker, Zachary, Central and St. George do not pay their fair share,” Hurst said.

The lawsuit is now pending in the 19th Judicial District Court, where both sides are expected to argue whether the city-parish is meeting its legal obligation to fund the District Attorney’s Office.

WBRZ reached out to Moore for an interview, but did not receive a response.