New Orleans Mayor Threatens Layoffs If Tax Changes Fail

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The mayor of New Orleans is threatening to lay off city employees unless voters on Saturday agree to extend three property taxes.

If the measures aren’t approved, the city would have to turn temporary furloughs of city workers into layoffs, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Thursday.

The ballot measures would reconfigure some existing property taxes, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported.

Cantrell said her administration assumed the ballot measures would pass, and built that money into the 2021 budget. That’s why layoffs could result if they fail in Saturday’s voting, she said.