(The Center Square) – The Shreveport City Council voted to table the 2026 budget until Dec. 9 during Tuesday’s meeting. The council will review the budget in detail in November, according to Chief Administrative Officer Tom Dark.
After introducing the 24 budget ordinances, six council members voted to table the budget until December. Councilman Gary Brooks was against the action.
Multiple ordinances require approval because the city has separate budgets and funds.
Dark went over the budget with the council to clarify what is and is not included. Among those, Dark spoke on the absence of pay raises in the 2026 budget. An estimated 5% raise to all city employees would cost more than $8 million annually.
“Except for the 2% longevity increases that we are required to give to fire and police, there are no pay increases in the budget,” said Dark. “That’s two years in a row for that. That position isn’t sustainable long term if we want to be able to hire and retain good employees.”
According to Dark, there is no easy funding source for these raises.
The largest budget is the general fund that pays for most of the city’s spending. Next year, the mayor proposed $320.5 million for the general fund budget to provide funding for departments, including police, fire, public works and property standards.
The proposed operating budget is $707 million, a 3.4% increase from the original 2025 budget. The capital budget is over $1.1 billion and includes projects that are close to completion, according to Dark, with $34 million in the capital budget for new projects.
Other highlights include an increase in general fund sales tax revenues of 2%. Dark says this increase is mostly necessary for payroll and health care costs, among other things. The end of the Main Choice Neighborhoods Grant is approaching, resulting in a decrease in the Community Development budget. The Public Safety fund budget also decreased. Dark credits this to drivers complying with school zone speed limits.
As previously reported by The Center Square, the 2% blight surcharge is no longer included in the 2026 budget proposal after Mayor Tom Arceneaux released a statement of its removal.
The next City Council meeting is Oct. 28.
