Following reports that New Orleans may not be able to pay city workers for the rest of 2025, officials have unveiled a bold new strategy to “reimagine compensation” without actually providing it, by transitioning all employees, excluding the mayor and her closest cohorts, to what they’re calling a “layaway-style compensation model,” or, as the press release put it, “the future of public service economics.”
Under the new system, part of the newly launched City of N.O. Pay Initiative, workers will continue to report for duty while their paychecks are “temporarily paused for administrative reflection.” Once funds “reintroduce themselves into the conversation,” employees will receive back pay, store credit, or “a meaningful sense of participation in civic life.”
“We’re not broke,” said Terry Davis, Director of the Mayor’s Office of Communications. “We’re just on a journey of fiscal self-discovery.”
City Hall says The City of N.O. Pay Initiative encourages workers to “embrace the spirit of volunteerism” while the city “reimagines what compensation can look like in a post-currency economy.”
The payroll experiment follows a recent legislative audit revealing a $160 million deficit, prompting city leaders to explore “creative compensation alternatives.” Officials say the idea emerged from this week’s emergency budget meeting, a session Councilman and Budget Chair Joe Giarrusso described as “inspiring, in the way a fire drill can be inspiring.”
Giarrusso and mayor-elect Helena Moreno have both called resolving the issue a “top priority,” with Moreno praising the City of N.O. Pay plan as “an important first step toward redefining what a paycheck really means.”
To boost morale, employees will receive a voucher for 10% off official City Hall merchandise and one complimentary parking ticket forgiveness per year, excluding Mardi Gras week.
“It’s not about the money,” Davis added. “It’s about the experience.”
The announcement comes just weeks after outgoing Mayor LaToya Cantrell presented her proposed 2026 budget, which included $74 million in new taxes and fees aimed at “ensuring a stronger financial foundation for the future.” Critics noted that while the future may be funded, the present appears to be on back order.
Officials say the City of N.O. Pay Initiative will continue “as long as necessary” and that paychecks will resume “once the concept of money stabilizes.” They hope the plan “inspires other cities to stop worrying about paying people and start believing in themselves.”
Cantrell described the city’s financial situation as “challenging but manageable,” though most agree it should be fully resolved “sometime after she stops being responsible for it.”