The New Orleans city budget battle continues and now some fear the tourism industry could become the biggest casualty in the fight to crunch the numbers.  A dramatic cut in sanitation services is now headed for the historic French Quarter.

Tuesday Sidney Torres, owner of SDT Waste and Debris Services, received a letter from the Nagin administration requesting that enhanced services like manual and mechanical street and sidewalk sweeping in the French Quarter be discontinued come February.

"It seems as though the city is not in a position to continue to afford those enhanced, Disney-like services," said New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.  "And we're going to make the adjustment."

The Mayor's Office estimates the savings to be in the $4 million range.  Those in the tourism industry, however, say it's a cut the city's restaurants and hotels can't afford.

"It could cost us in revenue and in dollars a lot of money if the quarter itself is not clean," said Janice Guido, director of Sales and Marketing for the Royal Sonesta Hotel.   "People judge the whole city of New Orleans by what they see in the French Quarter on a regular basis."

Dawana Suire and her family made the two-hour trek from New Iberia to visit the quarter and she says less sanitation services could mean less trips for her family to the area.

"It would be just nasty," said Suire.  "We wouldn't want to come around."

SDT has been widely regarded as the reason behind the French Quarter's recent cleanup.  Their enhanced services began two years ago under the leadership of Mayor Nagin.

"I think one of the mayors legacy's is going to be that he's the guy who cleaned up the French Quarter," said Steve Pettuce, managing partner for the Dickie Brennan Company.

Pettuce believes the mayor's decision to cut services next month isn't a binding one, but instead a way of imposing a sort of deadline for Nagin himself and the City Council to work out a budget compromise.

"I'm looking forward to the next 20-something days accomplishing some type of resolution to this challenge," said Pettuce.

But the mayor says his decision is no political ploy.

"No, I'm not playing." said Nagin today to a group of reporters.

Still, Torres says when he recently met privately with the mayor, Nagin indicated the possibility of changing his mind.

“According to the mayor, that if he can get certain things worked out on his budget with the council, that he would be willing to continue the services," said Torres.

Clarence Williams, a two-year employee of SDT, hopes his boss is right.  Williams fears he could be one of the 75 employees laid off if the services are cut. 

"I have a rent, I have a car, I have insurance, I have all those things to take care of," said Williams.  "And nobody gave me the opportunity but God and Sidney."

Despite the cut in services, small businesses in the French Quarter would continue to have their trash picked up twice a day.  Residential pick-up, however, would be reduced to once a day.

The City Council hopes to reach a compromise to save the services when they meet to finalize the budget Thursday.