New Orleans, long thought to be isolated from the nation's economic slump, is now under a city government hiring freeze. The announcement came from Mayor Ray Nagin, who on Friday vetoed much of the 2009 city budget approved by the council just last week.

A stern Mayor Nagin introduced a plan to cut at least two and a half percent from all city departments those directly dealing with public safety.

"My actions today are very strong because of the seriousness of this challenge," said Nagin.

The mayor also issued a hiring freeze that would leave vacancies in the fire department and cap the number of police officers at 1,550---150 less officers than the NOPD was expecting for next year.

"We will seek additional assistance from the National Guard, which I have already done and we'll see what happens," said Superintendent Warren Riley of the New Orleans Police Department.

The mayor, warning of an $18 million shortfall in 2009, also vetoed $600,000 the council previously allocated to the District Attorney's office -- the move equates to a more than 10 percent cut of the $5 million District Attorney budget the City Council recommended.

"I think it hurts us in many ways," said Arnie Fielkow, City Council Vice President.

Admitting that he disagrees with a majority of the mayor's vetoes, Fielkow says he is especially concerned about those vetoes dealing with public safety, including Nagin's decision to eliminate the $1.7 million the council had hoped to give to the cash-strapped Office of the Public Defenders in order to avoid what some fear could be a potential criminal justice crisis.

"And therefore we don't face over turning of convictions because of bad representation or improper representation," said Fielkow.

The city's revenue producing red light and speeding cameras may be solution to fill the financial hole, according to Mayor Nagin. The mayor says he'll soon introduce legislation that would tack on an additional $5 to each ticket that would be earmarked for the New Orleans Public Defenders. It remains unclear, however, how that sum of money would match up with the originally proposed $1.7 million.

"It's meager compared to that, I think," said Councilwoman Shelley Midura.

While the councilwoman says she doesn't necessarily agree with all the mayor's cuts, Midura claims it does make for a better budget mix than what the council came up with. Unless her fellow lawmakers can develop a compromise, Midura says she won't be among the five votes needed to override the mayor.

"No matter how you mix it up, there's going to be some cuts," said Midura.  "And that's what needs to be done to protect the future well being of the city."

The mayor's budget plan increases the city's emergency reserve fund to $38 million and, unlike the city council's approved version of the budget, does so without using any of the city's remaining $10 million dollars in federal loan funds.

On Wednesday the council is expected to discuss their plan deal on how to deal with the mayor's vetoes.  Ron Percel, City Council Chief of Staff, says he is still researching whether the council can vote to override the mayor's vetoes individually, or if they have to consider them as one big package deal.