New Orleans must pass an annual budget in the next few weeks. How could this week's elections affect what the city has to spend?
City Council Budget Committee Chairman Joe Giarrusso says a little more than half of the money that the city spends in a year comes from federal grants.
"There will be cuts from the federal government. No doubt about that," Giarrusso told WWL's Newell Normand.
Giarrusso said the city is acutely aware that there will need to be serious discussions about future budget items.
"What are the ones that are mission critical that we have to say, 'we're going to fill those gaps and flood the zone and just figure it out,' and what are the ones that we're just going to have to say, 'we can't do this?'" he said. "Either the return-on-impact can't be demonstrated, or this is so much more important that we have to pay attention to; we have to get this done."
Giarrusso said the smart department heads in the city should already be asking themselves these questions.