The New Orleans City Council on Monday finalized a $1.6 billion municipal spending plan for 2026, capping off a months-long fiscal crisis that featured a multimillion-dollar deficit, a payroll emergency and squabbles between the outgoing and incoming mayoral administrations.

The budget the council backed unanimously includes all of Mayor-elect Helena Moreno’s recommended measures, including $150 million in spending cuts to City Hall departments and once-per-pay-period furloughs for 14% of the city’s workforce, roughly 700 employees.

It includes $74 million in new revenue from the Sewerage and Water Board, unspent federal grants and from other sources identified by Moreno’s transition team. Without the cuts and the new measures, the city would have entered 2026 with a $222 million defic

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