By Misty Castile | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Shreveport City Council members postponed changes to the city’s solid waste budget Tuesday, calling for higher pay for drivers, questioning whether garbage fees are sufficient and raising broader concerns about the city’s water and public works operations.
The council delayed Ordinance 80, which would amend the 2026 Solid Waste Enterprise Fund budget, after members said the proposal needed more work.
Councilman James Green warned that the city could continue struggling to retain drivers unless wages increased, saying Shreveport was “lowballing” solid waste workers. He said drivers elsewhere make between $25 and $30 an hour and suggested Shreveport do the same.
“I’m not saying go up to $30 an hour, but we at least need to get up to $25 because if not, we’re going to have the same problem with the Band-Aid,” Green said.
Councilman Grayson Boucher agreed that pay needs to increase, but said Shreveport needs to confront the financial condition of its solid waste operation.
“I don’t think it’s sustainable the way it is right now,” Boucher said.
The council postponed Oridance 81, which would have amended the Water and Sewer Fund budget, after Boucher said there were too many unanswered questions about compensation for commercial driver’s license holders in the water department.
The discussion came in the same meeting where the councilmembers questioned Shreveport’s continued expansion of water and sewer service beyond the city’s boarders.
The council approved requests allowing properties outside the city to connect to Shreveport’s water or sewer system, but Boucher said someone should talk to Caddo Parish.
“I think it’s not a bad thing for us to continue to allow people, but I would like to see what the parish has to offer,” Boucher said. “It’s the maintenance part of the line going to these areas. … Somebody needs to have a conversation with the parish moving forward about what they’re going to do.”
The city is also preparing to move some utility and public works operations to a facility on 70th Street in about a month, and sell a Public Works facility on Mansfield Road and property on Kings Highway, though the properties cannot be sold until the departments using them are moved.