BATON ROUGE - The bill to possibly break up the Baton Rouge Parks system is now on hold for one year.

The proposal would have split the Recreation and Park Commission in the Parish of East Baton Rouge (BREC) into independent districts and added a park system separately for Saint George, Zachary, and Central. 

Had the bill passed, BREC would have lost about $5 million of its operating budget.

Lawmakers were asked to weigh-in through State Senator Bodi White's Senate Bill 205 as they met early Thursday morning.

Seeing as Superintendent Corey Wilson is relatively new to BREC, Senator White argued in behalf of extending one more year to BREC to address certain concerns.

An issue that White would like to see BREC address involves the creation of several advisory committees. White wants these committees, comprised of local citizens as advisors, created for Zachary, Baker, Central, the City of St George, and Baton Rouge.

BREC would maintain control of its parks system, but White feels the organization needs to improve its understanding of what local citizens really need.

Click here for more on the discussions that led up to Thursday's decision.