The New Orleans City Council on Friday signed off on a new spending transparency rule that will pull the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office and other criminal-justice agencies into the city’s Budget, Requisition and Accounting Services system, better known at City Hall as BRASS. The move requires agencies that receive city money to log purchase orders, invoices and contract details into the public-facing finance system on a set schedule, with council members pitching it as a way for budget staff and residents to see, in one place, how taxpayer dollars are being spent.
Council President JP Morrell and the ordinance’s sponsors described the measure as a long-overdue accountability step, while also conceding that their power over an independently elected sheriff only…..