By Misty Castile | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – More than 400 Shreveport city employees could receive pay raises of between 4% and 8% under a compensation overhaul that will be included in Mayor Tom Arceneaux’s proposed budget.
Chief Administrative Officer Tom Dark outlined the plan Tuesday during a Shreveport City Council meeting, saying the administration also intends to propose a separate 3% pay increase for city employees beginning March 1. The administration did not provide the total cost of the raises during the meeting.
Dark said the city expects more than 400 employees to be affected by what the administration calls “pay parity” adjustments. The final number remains tentative while officials review the list with department heads.
The raise range would depend on an employee’s current pay level and length of service.
For example, Dark said an employee moving up one pay level would receive a 4% increase if newly hired and a 6% increase after five or more years with the city. Employees moving up two levels would receive increases of 6% or 8%, depending on tenure.
The proposal also would restructure the city’s employee pay system.
Shreveport currently has 24 pay levels, although Dark said no employees are in levels one through seven. Under the administration’s plan, the city would move to a 13-level system.
Dark said several lower pay levels have become compressed in recent years, particularly after the city increased its minimum wage to $15 an hour. Five existing lower levels would be consolidated into three.
The city adopted a $15 per hour minimum wage for municipal employees in its 2026 budget.
The new system also would use pay ranges instead of steps, with each range extending as much as 60% above its minimum. Human Resources would develop rules governing how employees move within those ranges.
The changes follow several years of work by the city on employee compensation. Shreveport’s 2025 budget listed completion of a compensation study and implementation of its recommendations, as funding allowed, among the Human Resources Department’s goals.
The administration also proposed $500,000 for parity adjustments in certain General Fund departments as part of its 2026 budget proposal. That proposal included raises and other employee compensation changes totaling about $4.4 million.
Dark said the new increases will be included in the budget Arceneaux is expected to present to the council next week.
The Human Resources Board will be responsible for approving portions of the new compensation structure, while the City Council will decide whether to appropriate the money needed to pay for the raises.