The 2027 budget for Bossier Parish looks better than the 2026 version in some ways, but similar warning signals still flash.

Entering the year, the Parish seemed set on some deficit spending. Operating budgets for the five major government funds – General, Highway, Library, Corrections, and Capital Improvement – then predicted combined $15 million more would be spent than came in, while the rest of the lesser funds was foreseen going $6.5 million in the red.

However, for 2027 the General, Library, and Corrections Funds are predicted to eat into reserves only slightly, and treading water when discounting transfers. The deficit of the other governmental funds came down a bit – some of that is structural for financing the 26^th Judicial District courts and the district attorney’s office – although expenses jumped almost 25 percent for the district attorney, which at the end of 2026 was forecast to have almost no reserves but as of the end of September actually was in the red nearly $300,000 and is expected to balloon to over a million dollars even with a million-dollar transfer into it.

Yet that misfire too high on the DA fund served as an outlier. Across most funds as it turned out 2025 ending estimates/2026 beginning estimates ended up too low as revenues ended up higher than expected and/or expenses lower in many cases, dramatically shrinking the eating into reserves, which when updated with actual numbers left much higher balances. Indeed, the 2027 budget actually predicts about $2 million fewer in revenues with $1 million fewer spent, but because the 2026 forecast of the beginning balance for the year was nearly $75 million and it actually started at $112 million, the roughly $22 million in deficit spending – only slightly higher will leave all reserves at $89 million.

Keep in mind that the 2026 budget figures didn’t have data for the entire year and to understand why things came out rosier than expected will have to wait for the comprehensive annual financial report for the parish for 2026 will have to come out sometime around the middle of next year. One clue may be a better last half of 2025, as the city’s 2025 CAFR shows actual general fund numbers, for example, adding a million more dollars to reserves than budgeted.

The Capital Improvement and Highway Funds remained sore spots. Prior to a typical $6.6 million transfer out, while the former was predicted for 2026 to have a $2 million surplus the plan in 2027 foresees over a half-million dollars fewer in revenue and $1.5 million more in expenses (mostly from the cost of running government) that creates a $2 million deficit. And while the latter in 2026 had a $5 million deficit, that drops only slightly despite a $4 million revenue gain because of nearly that much more in additional public works costs.

Predicted revenues there would have been lower save for a $3 million dollar increase for permits, a four-fold jump from last year’s number. The extra is thought to be coming from permits issued for incoming data centers in the parish, and thus will be just a one-time boost that otherwise would have put the Highway Fund in deficit to the tune of $5 million.

As for its enterprise activities, the water and sewerage district is doing well. Even with a $2 million transfer out, revenues mainly from fees on the back of a rate hike this year are expected to outstrip expenses to the point reserves still will increase slightly.

So, once again the parish overall projects deficit spending. The Highway Fund will have only $10 million in forecast reserves, and the Capital Improvement Fund will drop by almost half to about the same, with these two causing almost all of the total parish shortfall. Both depend heavily on sales taxes which might rise above the inflation rate with greater economic activity, but not nearly enough to bring either into balance. Even if starting out stronger than what appeared to be the case last year, the budget’s deficit trend if continued cannot be sustained.