The Goddessey float rides down St. Charles Avenue as parade goers reach for throws on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. " data-image-caption=" The Goddessey float rides down St. Charles Avenue as parade goers reach for throws on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. " data-large-file="https://cdn.veritenews.org/uploads/2025/02/21224007/MUSES_08.jpg" /> The new fee was approved with little fanfare at Thursday’s council meeting.
Verite News · Jasmine Robinson · September 3, 2026
The Goddessey float rides down St. Charles Avenue as parade goers reach for throws on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025.
" data-image-caption=" The Goddessey float rides down St. Charles Avenue as parade goers reach for throws on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025.
" data-large-file="https://cdn.veritenews.org/uploads/2025/02/21224007/MUSES_08.jpg" /> Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story.
Carnival krewes will pay more to parade during Mardi Gras season after the New Orleans City Council voted to approve new fees on Thursday (Sep. 3).
The Gap Adjustment for Parades Fee , or GAP Fee, is meant to address the shortfall in funding for Carnival-related costs the city takes on. A recent analysis found that in 2023, the city spent $11 million on Mardi Gras-related services, Fox 8 reported , representing a net loss of $3.7 million after taking increased seasonal tax collections into account. The new fee aims to collect hundreds of thousands of dollars per year in fees from krewes to help cover those costs. The GAP fee, which will go into effect for the 2027 season, is estimated to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars to help cover that shortfall.
“We’re not trying to get all that money off the backs of the riders who understand this is the greatest free show on earth. We’re just trying to chip a little bit away at this huge deficit. Every dollar helps,” Councilmember Freddie King said during a Criminal Justice Committee meeting Monday (Aug. 31).
The fee uses a tiered structure to assign costs to krewes based on the number of floats a given parade pulls. Parades with 14 to 27 floats will pay $5,000; parades with 28 to 36 floats will pay $7,500; parades with 37 to 45 floats will pay $10,000. The fee amount includes existing citywide permit fees.
Previously, Carnival krewes only had to pay permitting fees, which range from $750 to $1,500 depending on the size of the parade.
The new fee applies to parading krewes in Orleans Parish during the Carnival season as city law defines it, which begins the second Friday before Mardi Gras. The GAP Fee is in place during the 2027-2031 seasons.
The new fee comes as the city of New Orleans struggles with a budget crisis. Revenue from the fee will go toward an account exclusively used for Carnival-related municipal services.
The new, tiered fee is a much smaller ask than what was initially proposed : an $850 per-float fee, capped at $45,000 per krewe. Prior to that, officials floated a $25 per rider fee.
Chuck Toney, director of governmental relations for the city, crafted the proposal for the council on Mayor Helena Moreno’s behalf. The Mayor’s Mardi Gras Advisory Council gave input on the fee throughout its evolution.
“I did not personally receive any specific feedback that, on its own, led to the change from a per-float fee to the tiered structure. The final proposal, however, reflects the broader consultation with Carnival organizations,” Toney said in a statement to Verite News.
Based on 2026 parade data, the GAP Fee and permitting fees amount to $265,000. When applied to the 2023 deficit of $3.7 million, the fees only cover about 7% of the deficit.
The bulk of city expenditures for Carnival are on NOPD and fire department overtime and personnel expenses, as well as sanitation services.
A New Orleans police officer patrols along a parade route on February 6, 2026.
" data-large-file="https://cdn.veritenews.org/uploads/2026/04/21222229/20260206_CZB_Police_03.jpg" src="https://cdn.veritenews.org/uploads/2026/04/21222229/20260206_CZB_Police_03.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-29961" srcset="https://cdn.veritenews.org/uploads/2026/04/21222229/20260206_CZB_Police_03.jpg 2400w, https://cdn.veritenews.org/uploads/2026/04/21222229/20260206_CZB_Police_03-768x520.jpg 768w, https://cdn.veritenews.org/uploads/2026/04/21222229/20260206_CZB_Police_03-1536x1039.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.veritenews.org/uploads/2026/04/21222229/20260206_CZB_Police_03-2048x1386.jpg 2048w, https://cdn.veritenews.org/uploads/2026/04/21222229/20260206_CZB_Police_03-1200x812.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.veritenews.org/uploads/2026/04/21222229/20260206_CZB_Police_03-1024x693.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.veritenews.org/uploads/2026/04/21222229/20260206_CZB_Police_03-2000x1353.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.veritenews.org/uploads/2026/04/21222229/20260206_CZB_Police_03-780x528.jpg 780w, https://cdn.veritenews.org/uploads/2026/04/21222229/20260206_CZB_Police_03-400x271.jpg 400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 2400px) 100vw, 2400px"> A New Orleans police officer patrols along a parade route on February 6, 2026. Credit: Christiana Botic / Verite News and Catchlight Local/Report for America
Based on 2026 parade data, the new fee averages out to about $6.64 per rider on average for all of the season’s parades. However, the smallest parades will take a bigger per-rider hit. Under the fee schedule, large parades at the $10,000 tier would pay about $5.23 per rider. Medium-sized parades at the $7,500 tier would pay about $8.87 per rider. Smaller parades at the $5,000 tier would pay about $14.40 per rider. It will be up to the krewes to determine how they will satisfy the new obligation.
For the biggest parading krewes based on membership — like Iris, Endymion, Bacchus and the Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club — a $10,000 fee is a drop in the bucket. Arthur Hardy, creator of the Mardi Gras Guide, said the city’s “superkrewes” operate with budgets as high as $3 million or $4 million.
“It’s miniscule compared to the cost involved to provide services for parades, but I think it’s reasonable. I think the organizations realize this too,” Hardy said following the vote.
But he said he thinks the city has a “myopic” view on the matter.
“The city is just looking at cost versus revenue, but not looking at the $890 million Mardi Gras generates [in economic impact] … because it shows a deficit on the balance sheet. But what about the big picture?” Hardy said.
No leaders of parading krewes spoke up on Thursday in support or opposition to the new fee.
Other members of the public, however, were critical of the new measure, with some people arguing the fees should be higher.
Caroline Vanchiere of Grounds Krewe , a group that supports recycling of Mardi Gras waste and promotes sustainable parade throws, said she opposes the fee structure, saying it isn’t high enough and doesn’t account for the rising costs of Mardi Gras over the years. She suggested the fee should be calculated based on the amount of waste that krewes produce.
“Maybe it’s something like $30 [per] ton assessed to the fees at the end of Mardi Gras for the next season. That can automatically reflect the change in cost the city is incurring, and create an incentive where if the krewes throw less and the streets have less waste, the krewes can pay a lower fee,” Vanchiere said.
Brett Davis, who leads Grounds Krewe and the Recycle Dat! coalition, said the fee should be larger and permanent.
“The last minute reduction in the GAP Fee for parades does the city and taxpayers no good. We are letting critical programming go underfunded in the city, while a bunch of private clubs with operating budgets with tens of millions of dollars have days of parties in our streets and then send us the bill,” Davis said.
One commenter, Morgan Clevenger, had a different take. She rides with Zulu and the Mystic Krewe of Femme Fatale. She pointed out that the reason for the revenue shortfall is that the city only receives a portion of tourism-related tax revenues, with much of the remainder going to the state of Louisiana as well as tax-funded tourism promotion agencies.
“I admire the krewes for trying to step up and work with Councilmember King to come up with a solution, but I would say we need to go further and find a different funding source,” Clevenger said. “Continuing to put fees on the backs of people is not progress.”