(The Center Square) — New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno’s proposed 2027 budget would eliminate 75% of the Department of Sanitation’s authorized positions, laying off 37 employees, as the city attempts to close a roughly $100 million budget gap.

The department faces the elimination of 55 of its 73 authorized positions, leaving just 18. Sanitation Director Matt Tori warned that the reductions would eliminate enforcement capabilities, reduce customer service and force a transition from seven-day to five-day operations.

Among the positions affected are laborers responsible for litter removal, emptying public trash cans, graffiti removal, pressure washing and cleaning homeless encampments. Equipment operators who remove illegally dumped materials, operate street sweepers and clean roadways and bridges would also be affected.

Tori said the reductions would extend to administrative employees responsible for customer service and reporting, as well as sanitation enforcement officers assigned to each City Council district.

Council members and city workers call the planned cuts unworkable. “I think we need to get serious about the fact that people expect not only safe citie but clean cities,” Councilmember Lesli Harris, who chairs the Budget committee, said.

The sanitation cuts are part of a broader effort to reduce spending across city government. Moreno’s proposal would eliminate 152 city positions and cut approximately $77 million in spending, while relying on another $21.5 million in one-time and special-purpose funding.

The Department of Public Works faces a $9.8 million reduction, equivalent to 49% of its general fund allocation. The Department of Health would lose $9.9 million, or approximately 32%, while the chief administrative office faces a $26 million reduction, roughly a quarter of its general fund budget.

The reductions would affect personnel, operating expenses, contracts and funding for outside organizations. The proposed elimination of 152 full-time positions represents approximately 3% of the city’s workforce.

The cuts come as New Orleans attempts to recover from a financial crisis that forced city officials to reduce spending, impose employee furloughs and rely on temporary funding sources to balance the current year’s budget.

The city’s financial troubles intensified during the final months of former Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration. By late 2025, city officials identified a shortfall exceeding $200 million, prompting disputes between Cantrell and the City Council over proposed spending cuts, new revenue measures and employee furloughs.

Moreno inherited the crisis when she took office in January and has since pursued spending reductions and short-term borrowing to stabilize the city’s finances.

“We are in better financial shape than we were a year ago,” Moreno said when announcing the proposal. “We have more work to do. But we now have the opportunity to move from managing a financial crisis to building a more sustainable city government.”

The mayor’s proposal is based on approximately $748 million in recurring revenue, roughly $100 million less than projected expenditures and departmental funding requests.

The administration’s challenge is partly structural. The city relied on one-time funding to cover expenses in 2026, leaving officials with a recurring mismatch between available revenue and the cost of maintaining existing services.

Much of the general fund is also committed to expenses that city officials have limited flexibility to reduce.

According to Chief Administrative Officer Joe Giarrusso’s presentation to the City Council, approximately $576 million of the city’s projected $763 million in general fund revenue is obligated to public safety, health care, pensions, debt service and other commitmentFs. That leaves approximately $187 million available for other municipal services.

The Health Department’s reductions include funding associated with the city’s low-barrier homeless shelter, which operates at the former Veterans Affairs hospital on Gravier Street. The administration has proposed eliminating funding for the facility, although officials have indicated they could consider alternative revenue sources to keep it operating.

Public safety agencies would also face reductions, although the administration says it intends to protect frontline emergency personnel. The proposed budget allocates approximately $167 million to the New Orleans Police Department, below the $183 million the department requested. Other proposed reductions include funding for the Fire Department, economic development programs and the city’s juvenile justice operations.

Not all departments would experience cuts. Moreno has pledged to maintain funding for the New Orleans Recreation Development Commission and the Council on Aging.

The proposal would also eliminate the unpaid furlough days imposed on city employees during the current budget crisis. Moreno and Giarrusso have proposed cutting their own salaries by 10%.

The City Council must adopt a final budget by Dec. 1, leaving lawmakers several weeks to determine which cuts will remain and whether additional revenue can preserve some of the threatened services.