BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) – Biloxi Mayor Andrew ‘FoFo’ Gilich delivered his 11th State of the City address Thursday. While progress made in 2025 was touted, the outlook for city finances, troubles with FEMA and overworked police officers may mean some tough choices in the year ahead for Biloxi’s leaders.
The good, the bad and the uncertain
A video showcase played during the address spotlighted improvements made to many of the city’s harbors and piers, the opening of more than a dozen businesses, and the progress of the Popp’s Ferry Road extension, which could be completed sooner than expected — as early as the end of 2026, the mayor said.
The tax rate in Biloxi was also highlighted: residents pay less in taxes than any of the neighboring municipalities. But that could change as the city struggles to build its bank account against the rising tide of inflation.
“Revenues have not kept up with the inflation like expenses have,” Mayor Gilich told WLOX News. “We should’ve grown our revenues over the course of time.”
If Biloxi raised $269 million in 2020, the city should be raising $284 million this year, the mayor said. Instead, there’s an $8 million shortfall: the city’s tax revenue is projected at $276 million.
“That’s a challenge when you don’t want to raise taxes or raise cost of services. It catches up,” Gilich added.
Finding the funds
During budget talks in October 2025, the mayor wanted to raise the tax rate through a millage increase. While that didn’t come to fruition, it could be on the horizon for Biloxi taxpayers.
When asked if it’s time to increase the millage rate, Gilich said it’s one of the options the city is currently exploring. An alternative could be a hotel occupancy tax. In December 2025, the mayor made that proposal to city council members. After pushback, the resolution was pulled from the agenda.
The third option, the mayor said, could be an increase in the city’s current 1% tax on food and beverages.
“We have some choices and some options,” Gilich said. “We’re not going to rush into anything.”
Stopping the debt
In February, Biloxi City Council approved a resolution to apply for a bond capped at $18 million to pay for projects that need funding. In the following month, a “Stop the Debt” petition circulated the city and resulted in more than 270 pages of signatures submitted to the city on March 17.
If enough signatures were gathered, it would pull the decision from city council members and put it in the hands of voters as a ballot referendum.
Mayor Gilich told WLOX News he believes the petition and its signers were misguided.
“They don’t understand the purpose,” he said. “Everybody has emotions when it comes to ‘don’t raise my taxes.’ Well, okay, what do you want? Do you want services?”
The mayor questioned why the city should hold off on getting a bond when inflation is running 7%, but the city could borrow at 4.1%.
“Don’t wait years. Get the stuff done,” Gilich added. “This is the way to do it. Experts will say, this is the way to do it.”
While the outcome of the bond is unclear right now, the city is still struggling to fund some major projects through FEMA, like the massive Post-Katrina Infrastructure Project and the Lighthouse Pier rebuild.
The fight with FEMA
The infrastructure project started in 2015 after Gilich first took office. The plan was to update the city’s water and sewer lines along the coast. The mayor said, the latter was last upgraded in 1957 and had been “running on borrowed time.”
In 2008, FEMA determined it would cost $344 million to complete the nearly citywide project, the mayor explained, and that number wasn’t adjusted when work began in 2015.
Despite nearly two decades of inflation rates since FEMA first estimated costs, the city is still working with that same dollar amount.
“Had FEMA used the Cost Escalation Factor (CEF), that project would’ve been over $550 million,” Gilich explained.
In the 11 years since the project began, $300 million has been spent, and the remaining $44 million likely will not carry the project to completion. That’s why the city has been in talks with FEMA to adjust the funding amount, but money negotiations with the federal agency are not easy.
It’s why the Lighthouse Pier is still in ruins: Biloxi and FEMA have not reached an agreed-upon funding amount to pay for the proposed $5 million rebuild. On top of that, the mayor said, the ongoing partial government shutdown has delayed any progress in those talks.
The city’s police department is also facing financial challenges.
Too many events, too much overtime
At the March 17 city council meeting, Chief Chris DeBack received approval to transfer $500,000 to the department’s overtime fund from the department’s unused accounts.
When asked about that, the city said police officers are working at around 60 events throughout the year, along with weekly community activities. Since officers are required to be present during all those functions, which has drained the department’s overtime fund.
“[Police officers] want to have days off. It’s understandable. They can’t just have overtime, they want time off,” Gilich said.
One option, the mayor continued, is to raise the cost of events hosted in Biloxi. The alternative would be reducing the number of events.
“That’s a decision that needs to be made,” the mayor admitted.
The road ahead
Whatever the outcome of the challenges faced by Biloxi, Gilich said the city is in a prime position to overcome any obstacle it faces: it’s a matter of working with City Council to navigate the options on the table.
“I love Biloxi and everybody around me here understands we’re in this together,” Gilich assured.
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