How Will Shreveport Budget Cuts Impact You?

Belt tightening is starting at Shreveport City Hall. Chief Financial Officer Sherricka Fields Jones has sent a detailed proposal of cuts to members of the Shreveport City Council.

This plan would trim more than 19 million dollars in budget cuts to help offset a decline in sales tax revenues. Many of the large cuts include the elimination of positions that are currently vacant. These cutbacks are proposed for all city departments. Fields Jones says sales tax revenues for the city will likely be short by as much as 25 million dollars as a direct result of the COVID-19 shutdown.

Public safety will feel the pinch from these cuts. The police department will lose about $5 million dollars from it's budget. Much of that is to eliminate funding for vacant positions. The fire department would lose $800,000.

SPAR would lose close to $2 million dollars under this proposal. More than $700,000 dollars involves cutting jobs that are not filled a the moment. This plan also would close all city pools for this summer.

Sportran would lose $4 million dollars in funding from the city, but this will be offset by a federal transit grant that was awarded to the city of Shreveport for public transportation.

This is not the final plan, though. Shreveport Council members are expected to hash this out and look for the best ways to address the budget deficit. Councilwoman LeVette Fuller tells KEEL News  these cuts will definitely have an impact on the public. She says it will take longer to get to each park to clean them up since many of the crews will have limited staff. They may also be one person to a truck to adhere to social distancing guidelines.

Fuller outlines more about the plan to trim the budget: