New Orleans officials don’t have a long-term plan for the city’s finances or safeguards for the city’s reserves, leaving municipal budgets vulnerable at an “inflection point” in the city’s history, according to a new report from the Bureau of Governmental Research.
The nonpartisan public policy group also said city officials do little to tell the public about how they will spend reserve funding. The report also questions spending forecasts that failed to identify a $42 million deficit in the New Orleans Police Department’s personnel budget, a gap that appears likely to persist this year.
A windfall of federal pandemic aid totaling nearly $400 million is nearly spent, leaving precious little for the city’s rainy-day fund, BGR said. The report projected reserves could dip to $117 million this year, about a third of what they were after federal pandemic aid poured in and not enough to cover two months of expenses, as recommended by municipal finance experts…