The mayor’s office is working with city council to address $200 million shortfall. CAO Giarrusso makes first presentation to Council Budget Committee on Moreno Administration’s strategy to tackle complex, chaotic budget mess inherited from previous administration.
NEW ORLEANS — Today, leaders from the Moreno Administration presented updates on the work to solve the city’s complex, chaotic budget situation. Chief Administrative Officer Joseph Giarrusso presented his team’s work and strategy at the first meeting of the City Council’s Budget Audit Board of Review Committee’s term.
“In the eleven days the Moreno Administration has been in office, what we’ve seen related to the budget is that it is chaotic and complex,” said Chief Administrative Officer Joseph I. Giarrusso. “To start, the city’s Police Retention Bonuses require $11 million to fund. Yet with a $200 million budget deficit, city officials are looking to make up for the shortfall. There are also 100 different bank accounts.”
Giarrusso advised the Committee, “The question rightly asked by this Committee and the citizens of New Orleans is: how is this chaos handled? Our answer is rigor, relentless work, and discipline. The administration is taking this extremely seriously.”
Some of the measures to reduce costs to the City of New Orleans include reducing the number of take-home cars and fleet reduction where appropriate. Furloughs, staff reductions, and travel bans have also been implemented. In addition, the Administration has instituted spending and hiring freezes to be extended across the city. This freeze will not apply to public safety.
Mayor Moreno’s priority to provide Super Bowl-level services include bringing some public services in house, streamlining services, and saving the city money. The Moreno Administration is also changing the rules on change orders, requiring any purchase over $60,000 to be approved by the CAO. The city is also reviewing upcoming contracts to for savings.
There’s a program to hire 50 parking enforcement officers. In their audit, the city found a backlog of $100 million in parking tickets. The city is also looking to sell surplus property and leases.
The City of New Orleans mailed out more than 164,000 property tax bills January 5-12. The forecast on property taxes is a little more than $180 million. As of January 21, the City of New Orleans has received a little more than $12,920,000 with a remaining balance of more than $167 million.
CAO Giarrusso said they’re tackling the deficit with unity, “There is a team behind and with me. We are aligned and working together to address this significant hole, of which the city must dig itself out.”
To protect the most vulnerable city employees, Mayor Moreno allocated furloughs primarily to the highest-compensated employees, while those making under $40,000 annually will remain exempt.