SHREVEPORT, La. — The Shreveport City Council voted 7-0 on Tuesday, Nov. 10, to approve new pay scales for city employees, and the administration said it will try to move up a separate 3% raise for classified workers to Dec. 1, three months earlier than planned.
Under the resolutions the council adopted, police and fire civil service personnel receive a 6% increase in base pay starting Dec. 1. Added incentives are tied to an employee’s schooling, certifications and similar credentials. Police and fire personnel are slated for a further 2% increase on Jan. 1.
The administration’s proposed 2027 budget had set a 3% raise for classified employees to begin March 1. Council members pushed back during their Monday administrative conference, saying workers in departments such as finance, water and sewer, and public works should not wait months longer than public safety staff. Mayor Tom Arceneaux told the council on Tuesday that the administration agrees and that Chief Administrative Officer Tom Dark has found the money to make an earlier start possible.
The faster timeline is not final. It needs separate legislation, which the administration expects to bring at the council’s next meeting. Dark said the city is looking at two pay events, one on Dec. 1 and one on Jan. 1. On Jan. 1, parity adjustments planned for more than 400 employees, identified in a compensation study as among the city’s most underpaid positions, are also set to begin. Dark added that because those adjustments are calculated as a percentage of pay, starting the 3% raise first makes them slightly more valuable.
The raises come as Shreveport starts building revenue from data center development into its finances. Dark told council members the city expects data centers to eventually produce between $5 million and $7 million a year in property taxes, plus a further $3 million to $4 million from franchise fees on electricity, for roughly $8 million to $11 million in recurring revenue. In the early phase, the city plans to lean on building permit fees from data center construction in Caddo Parish, then shift to the recurring sources as facilities come online.
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