FY 2025 could mean pay raises for Bossier City municipal workers

BOSSIER CITY, La. (KSLA) — Bossier City's fiscal year 2025 budget could include a significant pay raise for first responders and other municipal employees.

During the City Council's most recent meeting, Councilman David Montgomery proposed an increase of essentially $500 a month for all city workers.

Councilman Chris Smith said that'll likely be about what fire and police personnel also get.

Those raises, if approved, would cost the city millions.

"How much is this total amendment on the raise part going to cost? $5,516,001."

David Crockett, who frequently attends City Council meetings, thinks most municipal employees deserve a pay raise. But he still has his concerns.

"My concern about the way that this turned out in the last City Council meeting is that they're just doing a flat amount pay raise to every employee in the city, regardless of whether they're being overpaid or underpaid currently."

While there was concern at the meeting about whether these raises would drain the general fund, Montgomery spoke confidently about his proposed amendment. "And we're sitting on a large sum of money that deserves to go back to the employees of Bossier City. That's the purpose of those types of surpluses."

Councilman Chris Smith said they want their first responders to have a good quality of life.

"We don't want our firemen, we don't want our police officers working part-time jobs outside of their job here because then they come in tired, and maybe they're not focused on their job, so we want to pay them a good living wage."

Smith said he hopes they can pay a fair raise that also is fiscally responsible.

"Ultimately, the discussions that we're going to have over the next two weeks are really going to revolve around the recurring revenue source. What can we do as a city to get creative to generate more revenue so we can afford it?"

Smith expects this will pass at the next City Council meeting.