On May 3, New Orleans voters face a critical decision: Will we invest in making our city safer, more just, and more humane OR allow vital public safety systems to collapse under the weight of political theater?
The ballot isn’t asking for a new tax. It’s asking us to renew an existing 2.46-mill property tax that funds the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office.
We believe this funding is essential to keeping our jail constitutional, our staffing levels sustainable, and our communities safer.
The Sheriff’s Office depends on this millage for about 13% of its operating budget, generating roughly $12.7 million per year. Without it, the burden would shift entirely onto the City’s already strained general fund — or worse, the jail could slip back into unconstitutional conditions, staffing crises, broken facilities, and gutted rehabilitation programs.
The renewed funding is already mapped out:
- 50% for personnel costs to address critical staffing shortages,
- 30% for rehabilitation programs for people in custody,
- 20% for facility maintenance to prevent dangerous conditions.
(Bureau of Governmental Research)
Supporting this renewal means protecting reforms, meeting constitutional obligations, and ensuring public safety isn’t reduced to slogans and broken promises.
If we gut the funding, and we risk dragging New Orleans back to the days of federal receivership, skyrocketing taxpayer costs, and humanitarian disasters inside Orleans Parish Prison.
The Orleans Parish jail has been under a federal consent decree since 2013 for unconstitutional conditions. The progress has been imperfect, but it’s progress nonetheless.
Tearing away resources now doesn’t punish injustice. It punishes those trying to fix it.
Renewing this millage means sustaining:
- Constitutional compliance,
- Staffing to prevent violence and neglect,
- Expanded rehabilitation efforts that break the cycle of incarceration,
- Basic human dignity inside our jail facilities.
Some claim that voting “no” sends a strong message. It does — a dangerous one.
A no vote says we are willing to play politics with people’s lives and that the rights of those inside Orleans Parish Prison are negotiable.
We know funding alone doesn’t transform broken systems, but denying funding ensures failure.
And once again, it will be the most vulnerable who pay the steepest price.
Voting YES on May 3 is about continuing to push New Orleans toward the future we deserve: a city where safety doesn’t come at the cost of humanity.
We can’t build better by tearing everything down without a plan.
We build better by fighting every day for reforms that matter, systems that work, and dignity for all.
Vote YES on May 3. Protect progress. Protect New Orleans.
