Shreveport Mayor Adrian Perkins has officially launched his campaign for re-election. He points to efforts he's made to move our city forward. But he says he does hear from people who says he has been a disappointment. But he counters that by saying he's been forced to lead our city through 3 crises. He says we had the pandemic, the economic crisis that followed, and the civil unrest and demonstrations in our streets.

Perkins says "when making tough decisions, you're gonna make some people mad. You're gonna have some people disappointed. But what we are focusing on are the people that do understand our vision and do see the progress in this city." He says four years ago, we had a higher unemployment rate and now we are one of the fastest growing economies in the state of Louisiana.

We asked Perkins what he is most proud of and he pointed to a 41 million dollar reserve, but according to labudget.org Shreveport got more than $48 million dollars in American Rescue Plan money. We also got more than $25 million in Covid money prior to that. But Perkins says in year #2, he already got the reserve up to $16 million dollars. He acknowledged much of that came from the $7 trash fee he put in place during that time.

Perkins says we have also been breaking city revenue records. He says sales tax revenues are up dramatically.

KEEL News asked Perkins this question:

If you win re-election, can you promise today you will not seek another office during those four years? He says he will make that promise. "I am solely focused on the Mayor's Office and for the next four years, I will be serving the citizens of Shreveport as their Mayor."

Perkins also talked about the swimming pool contract and many other issues during our conversation.

Largest Shreveport City Salaries After 2022 Pay Raises

Earlier this year, Shreveport employees received a 13% pay increase across the board. This salary information was provided by the City of Shreveport after a Public Records Request, and reflect salaries after those raises started. We will list the City Department, and Position, exactly as they are described by the City of Shreveport in the Public Records Request.

Love Shreveport Clean Up Day A Huge Success

Hundreds of folks showed up Saturday to help clean up trash all around Shreveport.

 

 

 

 

 

 

More From Highway 98.9