Budget Community Meetings start this week. Here’s what you need to know.
Mayor Cantrell’s Budget Town Halls are an opportunity for the Mayor and City of New Orleans leadership to express their priorities for the 2024 City Budget to the public, and field questions from residents. (Learn more about the process & the 2023 Budget here)
2024 Budget Community Meeting Schedule
There will be one meeting in each of 5 City Council Districts. All meetings are held from 5-8pm:
District D, July 25: McDonogh 35 High School
District B, July 27: Warren Easton Charter High School
District C, Aug. 1: Martin Behrman Charter School
District A, Aug. 3: Esperanza Academy Middle School (Dunbar Building)
District E, Aug. 7: Martin Luther King Jr. High School
What to expect:
The Mayor will present information on the budget process and hear suggestions, feedback, and ideas from the audience.
Before each Town Hall-style meeting, The Office of Neighborhood Engagement will host a Resource Fair from 5-6pm, where there will be representatives from a variety of City Departments to help you navigate questions or issues you’re facing with the City.
This year, the Mayor’s Announcement also states that "At the end of each meeting, residents will have an opportunity to meet one-on-one with City leaders to voice their specific concerns within their communities.” We’re optimistic that this will enable the kind of 2-way dialogue we need for effective resident engagement on the budget.
Where these fit in the Budget timeline:
The Budget Community Meetings are an optional add-on to the budget process. The Landrieu Administration started the tradition, and the Cantrell Administration has carried it on. This year, the administration has bumped the meeting schedule up by a few weeks. We’ve long advocated for a community engagement process that starts earlier, so residents’ voices can make more of a difference in the process. That said, the administration has been working on developing the budget internally for several months, so we’re unsure if the two-week lead will make a substantial difference.
What you can do:
This is your money! Get involved in the City's most important decision:
Attend the meeting in your district and bring a neighbor. (See full schedule above.)
Call or email your councilpeople and neighborhood liaison and tell them:
What you want to see out of this process, and
How you want the City to balance the needs you see in your community
You don’t need to be an expert! Tell them about the issues that matter to you and why.
For those unable to attend in-person and/or who wish to further engage in the 2024 budget allocation process, the City of New Orleans has created email address dedicated to receiving comments and feedback at citybudget@nola.gov.
Learn more about the City’s Budget
Here’s what The City of New Orleans budgeted for in 2023.
We have a full breakdown of the City’s Budget, including how & when the decisions are made, who makes the decisions, where the money comes from, and what the City of New Orleans budgeted to fund in the 2023 Budget. Learn More here.
