New Orleans city workers union hopes to avoid layoffs amid budget crisis

By Thanh Truong

Source: Fox 8

November 6, 2025

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – From police to crews patching potholes, rough estimates put the number of city employees in New Orleans at around 5,000. But Amanda Fallis says the actual figure is likely lower — and the city can’t afford to lose any more workers.

“In Marc Morial’s day there were 140 people working on potholes, now there’s less than 25,” Amanda Fallis said.

Fallis is a city librarian and head of the AFSCME Local 2349, the union representing more than 2,000 municipal employees. She says they got assurances this week the city will be able to make payroll, and there are no immediate plans for layoffs or furloughs. Still, she approaches those assurances with caution.

“Of course, I know that comes at a cost. There’s going to have to be cuts to a lot of everything else, but we really feel that it’s most important to pay workers because the city workforce has been the smallest than it’s ever been right now,” Fallis said.

“That windfall from the pandemic relief money, we really squandered it,” said Rebecca Mowbray, president and CEO of Bureau of Governmental Research.

The Bureau of Governmental Research has been following the city budget for some time. Back in April, BGR issued a report raising concerns about the city’s financial health and its handling of $400 million in pandemic-related federal funding. In a September follow-up report, the nonprofit government watchdog said New Orleans was at a “tipping point” due to a budget deficit then hovering around $100 million.

Now that the shortfall has reached $160 million, Mowbray says tough decisions are ahead.

“I think the people of New Orleans need to understand that a lot of programs that they may value may end up getting cut,” said Mowbray.

One of BGR’s key recommendations is for the city to develop a five-year financial plan to achieve what it calls a sustainable budget. Mowbray says the city should also reduce its reliance on one-time money from sources like FEMA.

“What the city of New Orleans typically does is they put together their budget. Then there’s a hole and then they swing in some of this money from the fund balance to plug the hole and then you’re done. That’s not a sustainable budget because you’re plugging the hole with one time money. It really needs to be a situation in which you’re paying for recurring expenses with recurring revenues without swinging in one time money. So, you’re really living within your means,” Mowbray said.

Mowbray and Amanda Fallis say a recent meeting between city and state officials gives them some hope New Orleans can manage the budget crisis — but they expect the process to be a long one.

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