Council Orders Millage-Projections Report, Strikes Deadline Tied to 2026 Budget

The Jefferson Parish Council on Oct. 22 adopted a resolution directing the Department of Finance to prepare millage-projection documents intended to identify millages likely to experience negative fund balances over their life cycle.

Councilwoman Van Brinken described the measure as a one-sheet report—produced from an internal formula—that will let the council and administration see which dedicated millage funds require attention. The resolution originally asked for the reports before the adoption of the 2026 operating and capital budgets; after discussion about ongoing audit workloads and timing the council amended the resolution to remove that timing constraint so finance could produce the reports “with urgency” without jeopardizing the audit schedule. The amendment passed with no objection and the resolution was adopted as amended.

Administration officials warned the work requires coordination across roughly 28 millages and will add to finance office workload while Deloitte works on backlog audits. County officials said they will prioritize the requests and work with external auditors where appropriate; the council asked for focused attention on the millages council members are most concerned about first.

The vote was recorded by voice as adopted with no objections after council members agreed to the amended timeline and to exempt certain volunteer fire companies from the immediate analysis, per discussion during the meeting.

Next steps: the finance department will prepare the millage-projection documents and report back to the council; council members indicated they expect the information to shape near-term budget and millage decisions.