“Bad choices based on bad options”
Mayor Mitch Landrieu proposed that all city workers take 11 unpaid furlough days this year in order to help balance a projected $67 million deficit in the 2010 budget.
“This is not a proud moment for the city of New Orleans,” Landrieu said. “I am particularly angry as a citizen and now as the chief executive officer of this city to find ourselves in a situation to have to make very bad choices based on bad options.
“I am obligated by law to balance the budget … and have no choice but to make very, very difficult decisions today that will be painful,” he said.
The furlough would save about $6.7 million, Chief Administrative Officer Andy Kopplin said.
Landrieu said he will take a 10 percent cut in his $140,000 salary, as will his top political appointees.
Other cost-cutting measures include or eliminating renegotiating third-party contracts, carefully monitoring overtime and encouraging some of the city’s 17,000 retirees to take advantage of certain federal health benefits now covered by their city-financed coverage.
