Shreveport’s $337.6M budget plan for 2027: Police and fire take nearly half, and 6% raises are proposed

Shreveport’s proposed 2027 General Fund is $337,608,600. That’s the city’s main pot of money for day-to-day services. The draft ordinance is attached to the City Council’s Oct. 13 agenda, and it says the mayor presented the budget to the council on Oct. 1, 2026.

Where the money goes

These are the largest department totals in the draft General Fund ordinance:

Smaller departments include the City Marshal ($3,384,800), City Council ($1,826,500), City Attorney ($1,557,000), Human Resources ($1,087,900) and the Executive Office ($1,073,200).

Police and Fire together come to about 47% of the General Fund. Most of that is pay and benefits, listed as “personal services”: $73,381,500 of the Police budget and $67,144,800 of the Fire budget.

The General Government line is big because much of it is money set aside or sent to other funds. It includes $24,705,000 in operating reserves, a $21,500,000 rate stabilization account, $14,693,700 to the Retained Risk Fund, $12,650,000 to the SporTran (bus) fund and $7,098,000 to the Solid Waste Fund.

Where the money comes from

• Taxes and special assessments: $216,065,400 (about 64%)
• Miscellaneous: $31,976,400
• Licenses and permits: $27,902,700
• Prior-year fund balance: $25,736,500 (money saved from earlier years)
• Transfer from the Water and Sewer Fund rate stabilization account: $21,500,000
• State supplemental pay grants: $3,465,600
• Transfer from the Riverfront Fund: $2,300,000
• Smaller items: internal service charges ($3,881,500), fines and forfeits ($2,205,000), external service charges ($1,126,500), interest ($750,000) and intergovernmental ($699,000)

Proposed 6% raises for police and firefighters

Two resolutions on the same agenda would set new pay scales for civil service employees, effective Dec. 1, 2026:

• Fire (RES 111): The resolution says the mayor recommended a 6% pay increase for members of the Fire civil service.
• Police (RES 112): The resolution says the mayor recommended a 6% pay increase for civil service officers, plus increases in certain forms of incentive pay.

The agenda marks both resolutions “not to be adopted before October 27.” The resolutions don’t give a total cost for the raises. The pay tables are in an attached appendix.

Water and sewer

The separate Water and Sewer Fund ordinance totals $145,945,700. Its largest source is $117,526,700 in “external service charges.” The fund also plans to use $22,684,000 of its own prior-year fund balance. It lists a $21,500,000 transfer to the General Fund’s rate stabilization account, the same amount shown coming into the General Fund above.

What happens next

The agenda lists the 2027 budget ordinances as “to be adopted no later than December 15, 2026.” The council can make changes before then. The next meetings are the Administrative Conference on Mon., Oct. 26, and the regular meeting on Tue., Oct. 27, both at 3 p.m. at Government Plaza, 505 Travis St. (schedule).

Related: Bossier City’s 2027 budget and the proposed landfill fee increase.