Jefferson Parish is considering a budget of a little more than a billion dollars.
Parish President Cynthia Lee Sheng says her $1.026 billion proposal was made with consideration to economic uncertainties, such as inflation and tariffs.
The proposal is about $5 million less than last year's proposal, with a reduction in capital improvements, but it still includes merit-based pay raises of five percent for parish employees.
Councilmember at-large Scott Walker says the vast majority of the parish's spending is already spoken for.
"There's not a whole lot of flexibility in where our money goes," said Walker. "Our millages dictate exactly where things need to be spent."
Walker says the parish's spending will eventually have to change with the times.
"Going forward, as we look to the next ten years or so, we're going to have to adjust some of the ways that we spend money, because that budget might have to come down a little bit, and we might have to make some adjustments in programs and services," Walker said.