OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Budget Committee Meeting: Fiscal Overview and Civil Service Pay Plan Approvals on January 22, 2026

City Council — Thursday, January 22, 2026
BodyNew Orleans, Louisiana
SessionCity Council
DateThursday, January 22, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:29:59

Transcript — Verbatim
0:00

But I like to start my meetings on time.

0:03

This is our very first budget meeting of 2026.

0:07

My name is Leslie Harris.

0:09

I'm the chair of the budget committee.

0:11

And we are here today to get a brief overview of the CAO's office, his team, and understand what we can look for going forward as far as our budget and the information that the members of the budget committee will get.

0:26

So with that, I will move to approve the minutes of October 22nd, 2025.

0:31

Could I get a second?

0:33

Seconded by Council Member King.

0:35

All in favor.

0:37

Eyes have it.

0:39

And we will do the personnel introductions and fiscal overview of Joe DeRusso, CAO, and Alyssa Rambo, Director of Finance.

0:51

Good morning, members of the budget committee.

0:53

Thank you for having us today.

0:55

What I want to do at the direction of the chair is provide a broad overview, but I thought what maybe made the most sense is to familiarize yourself with us and the team overall.

1:07

I'm gonna stress at various points that this is a team approach.

1:11

And although by charter, the CAO is responsible for creating and monitoring the budget, that requires finance to work on the revenues and the expenditures, and then lots of folks that you sit in behind us to help us along the way.

1:26

So I want to introduce, and if you have questions that are specific that uh Alyssa or I can't answer, we wanted to make sure that we had subject matter experts and those with historical knowledge here today.

1:38

So you'll see in the audience Jason Acres, who is our bond counsel and is working with us very closely on the revenue anticipatory note.

1:46

We had some questions specifically about payment and how that's working and what's going on, and Jason will be your best resource for that.

1:54

Of course, I think this committee for the most part knows Frieda Richardson, who's the deputy director of finance and obviously has historical knowledge uh about about the expenses and has been a real help in trying to get information both that we have requested and this council has requested as well.

2:12

Uh you may not have met yet John Lisby, who's in the audience.

2:16

John previously worked for mayors Landrew and Cantrell.

2:21

He is the chief innovation officer.

2:23

Uh so John will not only be responsible for IT but also helping drive some of the budget framework that we're going to discuss here in a little bit, and as well Ernest Leger, who's my chief of staff and is a resource to all of you.

2:39

Brandy DeLarge budget.

2:44

And then uh her title is director of external affairs, but Abby is really a utility player who can do anything and almost anything, and particularly if we're getting questions about how to measure or manage something.

3:04

Abby and her team and Office of Performance and Accountability and Service and Innovation are the people who are gonna do it.

3:13

To my right is Alyssa Rambo.

3:16

Uh I I've known Alyssa probably now for 15 or 20 years, but that is not the reason that she is the finance director.

3:24

It the overriding factors for me were twofold.

3:27

Number one is of all the people who applied for this position as outside candidates.

3:34

Alyssa had the strongest government resume, and and I, and I think the mayor felt it was really important to serve the residents of the city and this council that somebody with that type of experience was important.

3:45

And secondly, uh Alyssa is is extraordinarily process-oriented person, and I think if you think about how the budget ought to operate by charter, the CAO is along with stakeholders, including the council is the strategist, but the finance director is the tactician.

4:06

And so those two skill sets are really important in our balance that we're looking for and creating the alignment that has been missing, and I know that this council wants to see.

4:15

So with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Alyssa for introductions and then get into the presentation that the chair requested.

4:23

Good morning, everyone.

4:24

Um, as Joe said, my name is Alyssa Rambo.

4:27

I um am serving as the finance director.

4:30

I I suppose it's more the interim finance director until I'm fully confirmed, but um I am here to serve the city of New Orleans through a calling essentially that I had to come in and um and help Joe with the budget issues and with the processes that we feel that we could improve upon and um and help you all manage that, right?

5:04

Uh, very proud of the work that we did there as we constantly had our um our clean audit reports.

5:12

Um we worked with the legislative auditors when the new agreed-upon procedures came down, and we were able to show our policies and processes in a way that we received good remarks every year.

5:24

Um so that's something I'm really proud of, and I hope to bring to the city.

5:29

And um, I just want to thank you all for the trust and the uh ability to serve here.

5:36

All right, and and obviously um, because of the new process, the council will both have opportunities for those who haven't had enough uh the chance to do so yet to meet Alyssa uh one-on-one, and of course, be subject to governmental affairs as well.

5:52

All right.

5:52

Okay, with that, I'm gonna get started with the presentation, and obviously I'm happy to be interrupted at any point if people have questions or questions at the end, whatever is a committee's preference.

6:03

In the 11 days the Marino administration has been in office, what we see about this budget is that it's chaotic and complex.

6:11

What do I mean by that?

6:13

Well, members of the committee, let's take the retention bonuses that have been on our minds and yours uh since we've taken office.

6:20

Remember, there are supposed to be 11 million dollars available to fund those retention bonuses.

6:26

Let's start first with the chaos.

6:29

ARPA funds were moved to pressing needs for quality of life issues, including sanitation, property management, park parkways, safety and permits, community development, and economic development.

6:43

The issue though was that the money that was supposed to make up the balance was not sequestered, and so it no longer exists.

6:52

It was spent on other purposes and not where it was aligned and needed to be.

6:58

So that means as the Marino Administration took office, it needed to scramble to make up that difference now, with only approximately $3.6 million existing in ARPA funds, and then needing to tap approximately $7.4 million in general funds.

7:18

I'm gonna stop here just for a second.

7:19

When you hear me use the words approximate and about, it's because those numbers are subject to change, and I'm trying to give you the best data that we have.

7:27

And if anything changes, we'll of course let the committee know.

7:31

I've talked about the chaos, let's talk about the complexity.

7:35

Finance and the Louisiana auditor represented in the audience by Chris have been verifying information for individual first responders.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Fiscal Sustainability██████████████████████████████████████38%
Budget Equity Analysis██████████████████████████26%
Public Safety████████████12%
Personnel Matters████████8%
Procedural██████6%
Sanitation and Waste Management███3%
Water And Wastewater Management███3%
Public Engagement██2%
Transportation Safety██2%
Summary of Proceedings

Budget/Audit/Board of Review Committee Meeting – January 22, 2026

The New Orleans City Council Budget/Audit/Board of Review Committee met on Thursday, January 22, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. to receive a fiscal overview from the new Chief Administrative Officer Joseph I. Giarrusso III and Finance Director Alyssa W. Rambeau, and to consider a series of Civil Service Pay Plan and Rule Amendments approved by the Civil Service Commission. The committee approved several motions related to Sewerage and Water Board and Municipal Yacht Harbor positions, which do not use general fund money, and deferred all general fund items due to the administration's hiring freeze. Councilmembers Lesli Harris (Chair), Matthew Willard, Aimee McCarron, and Freddie King were present; Councilmember Jean-Paul 'JP' Morrell was absent. Councilmember Eugene Green (non-committee member) also attended.

Consent Calendar

  • Approval of Minutes (October 22, 2025): Moved by Chair Lesli Harris, seconded by Freddie King. Approved 4–0 (Morrell absent).

Discussion Items

  • Personnel Introductions & Fiscal Overview: CAO Giarrusso introduced his team and described the city's budget as "chaotic and complex." He reported that retention bonuses originally funded with $11 million in ARPA money now have only about $3.6 million in ARPA funds remaining; the administration is scrambling to cover the remaining $7.4 million from general funds. He stated that Finance and the Louisiana Legislative Auditor have been verifying information for nearly 800 first responders potentially eligible for the bonuses, aiming for a January 30 deadline. Giarrusso outlined austerity measures: an extended spending freeze, an extended hiring freeze (with exceptions for public safety, revenue, and the law department), fleet reduction, bringing services in-house (e.g., hiring electricians to fix street lights), and a new policy requiring CAO and law department approval for change orders over $60,000. On the revenue side, he noted efforts to enforce parking tickets (nearly $100 million in unpaid tickets and hiring 50 new parking enforcement officers), to collect $80 million owed by the Sewerage and Water Board (with $29.5 million expected in 2026), to sell surplus city property, and to renegotiate leases. Finance Director Rambeau reported that as of January 21, the city had mailed approximately 164,561 property tax bills totaling roughly $180.7 million; about $12.9 million had been received. The previous economic forecast projected about $180.7 million from property taxes.

  • Councilmember Matthew Willard asked about outstanding federal reimbursements. Frida Richardson, Deputy Director of Finance, confirmed $16.9 million received from S&WB and another $2.1 million just received, reducing the $83 million receivable. Willard questioned the spending freeze's scope; Giarrusso said it applies citywide with exceptions for public safety and critical needs (e.g., power restoration at ORS). Willard also inquired about savings from bringing work in-house; Giarrusso cited losing several hundred thousand dollars annually for not having AutoCAD software ($10,000 subscription) and noted that using capital funds for bonding projects may be possible. Bond Counsel Jason Acres confirmed a procedure is being developed to use bond proceeds for in-house work.

  • Councilmember Aimee McCarron asked about the November 30, 2025 revenue report showing 92% of budget. Frida Richardson said December numbers would be available next week. McCarron raised a $73 million personnel deficit projection per the 11/30 report; Richardson said a cleanup ordinance would not be needed because expenses exceed revenues, and the general fund reserve will cover the deficit—preliminary fund balance numbers will be emailed. McCarron also requested cash flow statements and more readable reports. Giarrusso proposed quarterly reporting under charter requirements and agreed to streamline reports. Richardson noted the LLA recommended a combined format. McCarron asked about Promise Pay collections (~$8 million estimated by previous CAO); Giarrusso said his team would find out.

  • Councilmember Eugene Green (non-committee) clarified that the city collects about $34 million in sanitation fees but spends about $66 million annually, creating a $30 million deficit. He urged public awareness and exploration of federal/state assistance.

  • Councilmember Freddie King raised quality-of-life issues: illegal parking on neutral grounds and bike lanes on St. Claude Avenue and St. Bernard Avenue, and illegal vending. Giarrusso agreed to coordinate parking enforcement with Deputy CAO Steve Nelson and to provide notice to residents. King also asked about blighted city-owned properties and defunct LLCs not paying taxes. Giarrusso said the Central Adjudicatory Bureau is key for blight enforcement and exempted CAB employees from furloughs. King requested help with worst-offender properties.

  • Councilmember Lesli Harris seconded King's concerns about parking enforcement during Mardi Gras and at high-traffic areas, and asked about NOPD overtime. Giarrusso said a controller for NOPD is being hired to monitor overtime; the overtime budget (approximately $23.5 million) now resides in the CAO's office; and a detailed CAO policy on overtime will be released next week. Harris also requested simpler, more frequent financial reports, ideally monthly or weekly, in a profit/loss and balance sheet format.

  • Budget Report (November 30, 2025): Brandy DeLarge, Budget Director, reviewed revenue: property tax at 101% of budget, other taxes (including sales tax) at 80%, license/permits 100%, intergovernmental 144%, service charges 85%, overall 92%. The sales tax shortfall was attributed to state legislative changes reducing local retention. DeLarge noted 330 vacancies citywide (including 48 in NOPD) and discussed efforts to close out purchase orders sooner—targeting September 1 following audit completion. She also highlighted the unaudited fund balance as of November 30, 2025, compared to the audited figure for FY2024.

Civil Service Pay Plan and Rule Amendments

  • M-26-42 (S&WB – Utility Inventory Control Technician Series): New series for tagging/recording inventory; salary $38,000–$51,000. Moved by Harris, seconded by McCarron. Approved 3–0 (Morrell absent, King absent).
  • M-26-43 (S&WB – Safety Administrators): Grade/hiring rate adjustment, title change to Utility Safety Administrator; salary from $74,000 to $98,000. Moved by Harris, seconded by McCarron. Approved 3–0 (Morrell, King absent).
  • M-26-45 (Municipal Yacht Harbor – Yacht Harbor Fiscal Manager): New classification (business manager) at $70,000. Moved by Harris, seconded by Willard. Approved 3–0 (Morrell, King absent).
  • M-26-46 (Amendments to Civil Service Rules): Treating employee commissioner work as work time. Moved by Harris, seconded by Willard. Approved 3–0 (Morrell, King absent).
  • M-26-47 (S&WB – New Power Control Room Operator Series): Salary $44,000–$81,999. Moved by Harris, seconded by McCarron. Approved 3–0 (Morrell, King absent).
  • M-26-48 (S&WB – New Power Systems Field Operator Series): Similar to M-26-47; salary $44,000–$81,000. Moved by Harris, seconded by McCarron. Approved 3–0 (Morrell, King absent).
  • M-26-49 (S&WB – Water Purification Manager): Pay grade adjustment for two positions (east/west bank). Moved by Harris, seconded by Willard. Approved 3–0 (Morrell, King absent).
  • All remaining Civil Service items were deferred because they involve general fund positions subject to the hiring freeze.

Key Outcomes

  • Approved budgets and pay plans for seven S&WB and Yacht Harbor positions (non-general fund), all passing 3–0 (with Councilmembers Morrell and King absent).
  • Deferred all general fund Civil Service motions due to the hiring freeze.
  • Extended the citywide spending and hiring freezes, with exceptions for public safety, revenue, and other critical needs.
  • Announced a new policy requiring CAO and law department approval for change orders over $60,000.
  • Administration committed to providing monthly/quarterly financial reports in a streamlined, readable format.
  • Council directed administration to pursue parking enforcement on St. Claude, St. Bernard, the French Quarter, and Canal Place; and to address blighted properties and defunct LLCs.
  • Motion to adjourn moved by Harris, seconded by McCarron; approved 3–0 (Morrell, King absent).

Meeting Transcript

But I like to start my meetings on time. This is our very first budget meeting of 2026. My name is Leslie Harris. I'm the chair of the budget committee. And we are here today to get a brief overview of the CAO's office, his team, and understand what we can look for going forward as far as our budget and the information that the members of the budget committee will get. So with that, I will move to approve the minutes of October 22nd, 2025. Could I get a second? Seconded by Council Member King. All in favor. Eyes have it. And we will do the personnel introductions and fiscal overview of Joe DeRusso, CAO, and Alyssa Rambo, Director of Finance. Good morning, members of the budget committee. Thank you for having us today. What I want to do at the direction of the chair is provide a broad overview, but I thought what maybe made the most sense is to familiarize yourself with us and the team overall. I'm gonna stress at various points that this is a team approach. And although by charter, the CAO is responsible for creating and monitoring the budget, that requires finance to work on the revenues and the expenditures, and then lots of folks that you sit in behind us to help us along the way. So I want to introduce, and if you have questions that are specific that uh Alyssa or I can't answer, we wanted to make sure that we had subject matter experts and those with historical knowledge here today. So you'll see in the audience Jason Acres, who is our bond counsel and is working with us very closely on the revenue anticipatory note. We had some questions specifically about payment and how that's working and what's going on, and Jason will be your best resource for that. Of course, I think this committee for the most part knows Frieda Richardson, who's the deputy director of finance and obviously has historical knowledge uh about about the expenses and has been a real help in trying to get information both that we have requested and this council has requested as well. Uh you may not have met yet John Lisby, who's in the audience. John previously worked for mayors Landrew and Cantrell. He is the chief innovation officer. Uh so John will not only be responsible for IT but also helping drive some of the budget framework that we're going to discuss here in a little bit, and as well Ernest Leger, who's my chief of staff and is a resource to all of you. Brandy DeLarge budget. And then uh her title is director of external affairs, but Abby is really a utility player who can do anything and almost anything, and particularly if we're getting questions about how to measure or manage something. Abby and her team and Office of Performance and Accountability and Service and Innovation are the people who are gonna do it. To my right is Alyssa Rambo. Uh I I've known Alyssa probably now for 15 or 20 years, but that is not the reason that she is the finance director. It the overriding factors for me were twofold. Number one is of all the people who applied for this position as outside candidates. Alyssa had the strongest government resume, and and I, and I think the mayor felt it was really important to serve the residents of the city and this council that somebody with that type of experience was important. And secondly, uh Alyssa is is extraordinarily process-oriented person, and I think if you think about how the budget ought to operate by charter, the CAO is along with stakeholders, including the council is the strategist, but the finance director is the tactician. And so those two skill sets are really important in our balance that we're looking for and creating the alignment that has been missing, and I know that this council wants to see. So with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Alyssa for introductions and then get into the presentation that the chair requested. Good morning, everyone. Um, as Joe said, my name is Alyssa Rambo. I um am serving as the finance director. I I suppose it's more the interim finance director until I'm fully confirmed, but um I am here to serve the city of New Orleans through a calling essentially that I had to come in and um and help Joe with the budget issues and with the processes that we feel that we could improve upon and um and help you all manage that, right? Uh, very proud of the work that we did there as we constantly had our um our clean audit reports. Um we worked with the legislative auditors when the new agreed-upon procedures came down, and we were able to show our policies and processes in a way that we received good remarks every year. Um so that's something I'm really proud of, and I hope to bring to the city. And um, I just want to thank you all for the trust and the uh ability to serve here. All right, and and obviously um, because of the new process, the council will both have opportunities for those who haven't had enough uh the chance to do so yet to meet Alyssa uh one-on-one, and of course, be subject to governmental affairs as well. All right. Okay, with that, I'm gonna get started with the presentation, and obviously I'm happy to be interrupted at any point if people have questions or questions at the end, whatever is a committee's preference. In the 11 days the Marino administration has been in office, what we see about this budget is that it's chaotic and complex. What do I mean by that? Well, members of the committee, let's take the retention bonuses that have been on our minds and yours uh since we've taken office. Remember, there are supposed to be 11 million dollars available to fund those retention bonuses.

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