BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) -- Mayor-President Sid Edwards proposed a 2026 budget that could cut over 400 city-parish jobs. He presented this plan to the Metro Council on Wednesday.

According to the proposal, 200 positions could be cut through layoffs, early retirements, or not filling vacancies. Additionally, it plans to permanently delete another 220 positions. Overall, this means a 33% reduction in the General Fund workforce, not counting police and fire.

Edwards said the cuts are necessary to balance the budget after the city-parish lost $50 million in revenue over the past two years.

The $1.1 billion budget fully protects public safety funding. It includes new training academies for police and firefighters.

"Public safety remains a top priority, and no budget reductions are

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