Sales tax changes are significant
Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux will meet with the Shreveport City Council this week to work on the city’s budget for 2025. To prepare, Arceneaux and his administration have been evaluating the city’s budget, setting priorities and making adjustments.
Arceneaux said Nov. 7 that Chief Administrative Officer Tom Dark has been working with city department heads.
“We will have detailed budget meetings with the council next Tuesday and Wednesday,” Arceneaux said Thursday. “Tom (Dark) has been working with the department heads to come up with some additional changes, which will be cuts. Then we will go over that with the council next week.”
Arceneaux said he has concerns about what will happen at the state level that could impact local revenue. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry called a Special Session of the Louisiana Legislature to consider revamping the state’s tax code.
“We’re watching that carefully, because the proposal to do away with sales tax on prescription drugs is a significant change,” he said. “What they are proposing in its place is something we are very skeptical about the revenue and the cost of expanding.”
The proposed replacement is a sales tax on a number of services that previously have not been taxed.
“It’s expanding the items that sales tax applies to — things like lawn care services and that kind of thing that have never been in the sales tax system,” Arceneaux said. “The result of that is we are not sure what the revenue from that will be, No. 1, because they have never been in the system. And No. 2, we’re not sure how long the ramp will be and how much it will cost in terms of enforcement, because you’re dealing with a lot of people who are not accustomed to collecting and remitting sales tax.”
And while the sales tax changes are a significant issue, they are not the only thing Arceneaux is watching in the special session.
“That is its biggest issue,” he said.
“That and what happens to the movie industry as a result of the governor’s special session. Those are very important.”
Because of the importance of these issues, Arceneaux is keeping a close eye on the special session in Baton Rouge, which must wrap up by Nov. 25.
“We are staying in touch with our delegation, trying to see which way the legislature is going to go with these things,” Arceneaux said. “There are some very difficult things in the governor’s call that could have, in my view, a negative impact on the city of Shreveport.”
Regardless of what happens in the special session, Shreveport’s budget must be completed by Dec. 15. Arceneaux said the goal is to have the budget approved by the council’s Dec. 12 meeting.
The city’s fiscal year operates on a calendar year, beginning Jan. 1.
New Economic Director
Arceneaux welcomed Bill Sabo as the director of economic development for the city of Shreveport.
“He’s getting his feet wet,” Arceneaux said. “I am giving him some assignments. He and I will need to sit down and give him some priorities.”
Sabo previously served as the regional director of the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center at the University of Arkansas in Fort Smith. Before that, he was the director of food, music and technology for the New Orleans Business Alliance.
Sabo also worked under New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, implementing White House economic development initiatives to create training and career pathways for non-traditional technology candidates to train for entry-level technology jobs.
Sabo has a bachelor’s degree from Tulane University and graduated from the School of Business at both Stanford Uniersity and MIT. He is a Certified Professional Project Manager, a Certified Entrepreneurial Development Professional and a Certified Economic Developer.
New economic director for the city of Shreveport Bill Sabo. (Look for our profile on him in our Nov. 27 edition.)
