Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson has identified $19 million in capital repairs for the city’s jail and will issue bonds to cover most of that cost – something City Council members have urged amid an ongoing argument over the sheriff’s funding needs.
Yet Hutson is also considering a hiring freeze to deal with a budget deficit that is “threatening the operational viability of the city’s correctional system,” she said in a letter to the City Council on June 26. She’s asking the council for an additional $9 million to cover the deficit.
Complicating matters is a recent notification by Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s administration that only half the sheriff’s $10 million quarterly city allocation will be paid on Tuesday, the due date, with the rest coming within 45 days. Hutson told City Council members at a committee meeting Monday this could compromise her ability to make payroll…