The Landry Administration has presented state lawmakers with a proposed $44 billion budget. Commissioner of Administration Taylor Barras says the amount of state spending is about the same for next fiscal year as it is this year. He says they didn’t want to increase spending with a temporary sales tax expiring in July 2025.
“We plan from a two year cycle of expenses, initiatives, and that was really the reasoning behind our trying to keep this as flat as we possibly could.”
Barras says the proposed budget has more dollars for Louisiana State Police as the governor wants to add more troopers and form a specific troop to work with the New Orleans Police Department in fighting crime.
“Just a lot of start up that goes into an effort of that magnitude. So we worked closely with them on establishing what that number would be,” he said.
There is also $198 million in the budget to maintain the temporary $2,000 pay raise teachers received last year. But some teachers might see a reduction in pay from that $2,000.