Tuesday’s Bossier City Council meeting, the last for 2009, offered a short continuation of the council’s recent budget discussions concerning budget trimming – as well as good news about relieving one of south Bossier’s biggest traffic headaches.

On the budget front, council members approved the introduction of an ordinance implementing a hiring freeze, wage and salary freeze and promotion freeze.  The proposed ordinance generated an inquiry from Council member James “Chubby” Knight who asked if the original personnel cuts suggested by Mayor Lorenz “Lo” Walker was the goal of the proposal.

Knight noted that original proposal included 30-40 cuts in both of the city’s public safety departments, and expressed concern that critical jobs might not be filled as a result of the ordinance.

Knight’s fellow council members at first appeared somewhat reluctant to address the question, looking to City Attorney Jimmy Hall for a response.  Hall’s explanation was short and to the point:  While there wasn’t council support for the Mayor’s originally proposed personnel cuts, the ordinance is a path to the same effect of reducing the city’s payroll through attrition.

Hall also noted, however, that the ordinance includes an exception as concerns critical needs replacements – and those issues would be brought before the council for deliberation and decision-making.

Council member David Montgomery expanded the discussion in recalling that in addition to reducing personnel costs, the council will review the city’s financial standing on a monthly basis, “so next year we won’t be planning for spending what we don’t have.”

In the long run, such is probably a good plan – but we won’t know the actual effect of the personnel cuts and attrition-related reductions, from the financial and, as important, the departmental performance aspects for several months.  And it’s hoped that the council will revisit the city’s property tax revenue losses, which had much to do with the city’s financial shortfalls during those monthly financial reviews, as well.

On a much more positive front, the evidence of implementing the city’s extensive Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) is popping up all over town.  Tuesday’s meeting was the occasion for bid opening as it concerns extending the Arthur Ray Teague Parkway under the Jimmie Davis Bridge to accommodate bridge ramps, similar those on the Shreveport side of the river.  This step in extending the parkway south will be continued in the future by the Bossier Parish Police Jury, which is currently acquiring land to extend the parkway to Sligo Road.

Although not mentioned at Tuesday’s council meeting, the north end of the parkway is also getting attention as the city and Kansas City Southern Railroad prepare to widen the Traffic Street underpass for additional traffic lanes on this stretch of the parkway.

While the public focus of late has been on the city’s financial shortfalls, city administrators and council members are fully aware that the public’s chief concern for at least the last decade is that of improving Bossier City’s transportation system.  That’s happening in a big way for the city, and it’s fair to suggest that we won’t have to look far into the future to the day that every project listed on the TIP is completed – and in a relatively short period of time compared to the previous and much slower approach of planning and completing one project at a time.

All and all, there’s some balance to be found between these two issues – correcting operating fiscal shortfalls, while at the same time adjusting to the best use of capital funding to address what amounts to two critical city needs. Both put the city on the right track, and here’s hoping the New Year will bring more right track progress.


Marty Carlson is a columnist for the Bossier Press-Tribune and has been covering local issues for more than 10 years. She may be reached via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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