New Orleans seeks new funding after withdrawing bond request

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — According to Mayor-Elect Helena Moreno, the only way the the State Bond Commission would give the city its $125 million bond request is if the council agreed to have a state administrator take over the city’s finances.

“The more that we discussed this issue with different folks up in Baton Rouge, it seemed like that was like the hard line that apparently the attorney general would not move away from,” Moreno said.

Moreno says neither she nor the rest of the city council would stand for having a fiscal adminstrator from outside the city make decisions.

In Louisiana, state-appointed fiscal administrators have authority to approve expenditures, approve and cancel contracts, and amend budgets.

“This is really like having a consent decree on city government,” Moreno said.

While the request for the bond approval is off the table for now, the council does not believe it is taken off for good.

“We are more than willing to still continue to work with the state to come up with different options as far as oversight, should we be able to continue moving forward in some kind of way, maybe in the next bond commission meeting to, still be able to get approval to get the loan, some other additional types of oversight measures that could make the state comfortable,” Moreno said.

In the meantime, the city will look for other revenue sources including FEMA reimbursements and unspent money from the American Rescue Plan Act. Councilman Joe Giarrusso says with those sources the city could collect roughly $70 million.

“We’re trying to wrap our arms around every single source that we have, because we’re no longer talking about raising $100,000 or $200,000. We’re talking about making a huge difference with tens of millions of dollars,” Giarrusso said.

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