BATON ROUGE - A former metro councilman and downtown bar owner owes EBR City-Parish about $15,000 in back taxes. John Delgado is a part owner of Huey's and 1913, both located on Third Street.

Delgado said both bars are six months behind on their taxes. 

"When things get slow, we pay all the bills we possibly can. I have to keep the lights on," Delgado told the East Baton Rouge Alcohol Beverage Control Board Thursday evening.

1913 owes the parish $7,892 in taxes, while Huey's owes $7,564. The ABC board granted Delgado until the end of November to pay off the debt.

1913 also faces allegations of selling alcohol to an underage person, allowing an unlicensed employee to serve alcohol, and purchasing alcohol from an unlicensed wholesaler. The ABC board will hear those issues in September.

This week, a former employee accused Delgado of operating his bars without worker's compensation insurance.

In all, 42 businesses in East Baton Rouge where on the ABC agenda Thursday evening for failure to pay sales taxes. The vast majority paid off their back taxes before the meeting began.

ABC gave Driftwood Cask and Barrel bar located next to 1913 until October to pay its taxes. Boudreaux's Catering Venue on Government Street was found to owe the parish about $20,000 in sales taxes according to board staff.

ABC suspended five alcohol permits for businesses who hadn't paid taxes and didn't attend the meeting to explain why.