The New Orleans City Council is planning to ask the state's top auditor to examine the city's finances and provide clarity on the size of its budget deficit after a city budget hearing this week left council members with more questions than answers.

The 2025 budget deficit — the difference between the budgeted expenses and revenue and the actual spending and collections that accrue over the year — is more than $100 million, according to Councilmember Joe Giarrusso and the Bureau of Governmental Research. That amount includes a $73 million personnel cost overrun and a $30.5 million reduction in estimated revenue.

But officials with New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration, while reporting the cost overrun and certifying the reduced revenue estimate, have not provided a number

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