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.

Let's start first with the chaos.

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.

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

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

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.

I'm gonna stop here just for a second.

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.

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

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

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

I want to say that again.

They have been verifying the information for nearly 800 employees who are entitled potentially to these bonuses.

And of course, that means it is not going to be an easy process.

And I think as the legislative auditor told me, one of the things that we believe incumbent upon all of us is trying to make sure that the work is done well.

This team, the legislative auditor, the finance team, the budget team have been working around the clock to try to get this done in time by January 30th.

It has been only through extraordinarily diligent efforts, including working weekends and after hours to make this happen.

And also, I would mention on behalf of Frida nudging ADP as hard as possible, too.

It is an all hands-on deck approach.

As you can see on the slide, and members, there's not 36 slides, but only three.

Um we do have a hundred different bank accounts as well.

Uh Alyssa mentioned that in a cash management meeting, which obviously means that there's that many bank accounts, it is hard to manage, and unfortunately, I do not have enough fluency yet and have to rely particularly on Frida to say what account is that, what does this mean, and why is the money there?

Also, um, as Alyssa has pointed out, that uh we are still in the process of creating reviewing and finalizing balance sheets.

The October balance sheet had not been created as of last Wednesday at the insistence of the mayor and Alyssa and our team's work, including Frida.

That was completed by Thursday faster than expected.

And I know Alyssa, as well as the auditor have been looking at reconciling those numbers to try to get them in a better position.

So then the question this committee and residents should rightly be asking is how is the chaos and the complexity being handled, and what are you doing to clean up this mess?

I would answer that by saying what this administration has talked about and candidly what we know this council is going to demand is rigor and discipline.

Now, I will also tell you that repetition is another part of this, and so I have found myself repeating often well, where do we have the money for that?

So I want you to know that the administration through the mayor and I and our team are taking that extraordinary seriously.

Let's start with the expense side first, because I think that's something the public would want to know, and also candidly before we get to revenue, is something that needs to be explored in DEM.

I think as the public knows, this committee knows, Mayor Moreno has taken an active role in reducing the number of take-home cars and fleet reduction where appropriate.

Now, some people may think that just doing that is reducing numbers a little bit, but remember you're reducing risk when you do that as well.

So it's less insurance, it's fewer claims, it's fewer people driving, it's less negligence.

So it is a cascading effect above and beyond just the numbers itself, and also shows the commitment of what this administration is about when it comes to austerity right now.

You'll also see in short order that uh I will be exp expanding and extending the spending freeze, which is to remain in place.

Obviously, we all know high priority items and things that are around the corner need to be addressed, but as I discussed at uh governmental affairs, we are going to continue to bear down on contracts and hope to have more information about that for you in the short term.

CAO Drew, so uh councilmember Miller, you want him to keep on going?

Yep.

Okay.

In addition, the hiring freeze will also be extended.

Uh I have authority to lift that where necessary, but it will not apply to public safety agencies, revenue, and council member Harris, as I was telling you before the meeting, um, through the work of the mayor and the city attorney, we're gonna allocate about $500,000 more to the law department because we know how critical that is for them to have and how much it touches overall.

Relatedly, the mayor has spoken at great length about bringing services in-house and therefore reducing the cost necessary for outside vendors.

The deputy CAO Steve Nelson has been actively trying to hire electricians because, as many of you campaigned on, I'm looking at council member McCarron.

There are zero electricians right now on the city's payroll who can fix street lines.

And I've been on emails starting this week where Steve is trying to actively push that so we can hire people up, notwithstanding the budget crisis.

And of course, you all know about the vendor and contract review we've undertaken.

One other expense that I think will be coming out today is in the transition meetings, we were told that a number of change orders were being approved at much higher rates, but there's also because of the inability of brass to track that.

I can't provide the data for you, but I can provide anecdotally what we've been told.

To stop that, we are going to align with the state and say that anything over $60,000 has to be approved by the CAO and the law department.

On the revenue side, there are a few things here that I want to mention at the beginning because again, I think it starts with more than just coming to the council.

We are going to be reviewing upcoming contracts to see if more revenue is possible with those.

I've discussed that with you before, but want to make sure that is being done.

For those members who were on the last council, and for new members who may be watching REC on Tuesday, enforcement is also another extraordinary piece of making sure that we have revenue.

So remember the purported number by SUJIN Waterboard of the receivable, the amount owed by Sudge and Water Board to the city is 80 million dollars.

Just by virtue of having one meeting, that number being paid to the city is supposed to be 29.5 million dollars for 2026.

Uh, in addition to that, you also remember from REC about parking enforcement and the fact that first uh there is going to be a program to hire 50 new parking enforcement officers to make sure that more parking is happening, and then second, a program as well to work through the backlog of of the nearly 100 million dollars in unpaid tickets as well.

Uh, I I want to particularly cite here John Wisby, who did that analysis and pretty conservatively got us to a number of about $7 million or $6.5 million when it comes to that.

I'm sorry, uh Councilmember Morel is not here, but I hope you all will mention to him.

Uh, I'm looking at Julia, that obviously he's brought forward many times about the Uber litigation and other things that we are potentially owed as well, and that has also been subject of conversations internally.

And that has also been subject of conversations internally.

Um, as you all know, the mayor has spoken with you or discussed revenue raising measures both at the state and with this council.

Uh, but I thought it was really important to set forth the expense and other revenue side in addition to those.

And last, I think as this committee knows, the mayor is also working on certain one-time measures as well.

Selling city surplus property, also looking how to renegotiate leases to make sure the city is getting the most best value out of those.

Um, for this year, the mayor asked me to also update you about revenue specifically as it relates to property taxes.

Councilmember Willard, we were discussing this yesterday, so these are numbers as of yesterday.

The City of New Orleans mailed approximately 164,561 property tax bills between January 5th and 12th.

You all may remember that the former economists projected roughly 180 million dollars, 180 million six hundred and seventy-two thousand nine hundred forty-nine dollars, and and let's not forget the four cents of total from property taxes.

As of last night, the city had received close to thirteen million dollars as you see on the slide.

It's 12 million 920,322.32 cents with a remaining balance of roughly 167,752, 752, 626 72.

In closing, members, and I know you have questions.

Um, we acknowledge these things in this complex and chaotic mess that needs to be cleaned up.

First, the LLA, and again want to thank Chris and Mike and Judy and their team have been doggedly working to help the city, and I think not only keep the administration but also the council informed of better practices and how we can improve our processes.

I also want to stress that the team behind and with me are working as one.

The CAO's office, finance in a bit and innovation are aligned and working together, and we need to do that in order to make sure that we're providing the best possible materials to you to the public.

And last, the council is is necessary for all of this to happen.

I appreciate the fact that we've had in these 11 days opportunities to work together, the number of conversations that we've had about the issues in your respective districts, about the city, about departments, about the revenue anticipatory note, and overall the significant hole the city must dig itself out of.

We look forward to continue to digging out together, working side by side, and shifting out of so much chaos and complexity.

So, with that, we stand ready for questions, members.

Thank you.

Um, a couple buttons pushed.

Uh, Councilmember Willard.

Thank you, Chairwoman Harris.

Um, thank you, Joe and Alyssa, for the presentation and for the information.

Um, you guys have been very accessible and um providing whatever information requested to the best of your ability.

So I want to appreciate thank you for that, and hopefully we can continue operating in that fashion.

Uh, just a few questions.

So last year, as the uh deficit was looming and discovered, uh, a part of that issue was that we were waiting for some federal funding to come down.

Is that correct?

Yes.

It any update on that.

Um, in particular, I was curious about where the federal funding was coming from, like what department or agency um how much was outstanding, and if we have an expected timeline on it.

Uh I'll answer part of the question and then I'm gonna turn it over to Frida to see as much as she can answer to.

Part of the question is the some of the funding that we've received from Sujan Water Board is FEMA funding as well.

Essentially, the city was fronting FEMA work for Sujan Water Board, and it needed to be repaid, and that was remember members part of revenue estimating conference, and so we're gonna recognize that as operating cash for this year, and then make sure we balance it out on the capital side.

Uh Frida, first please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe in hands um we have about 16 and a half million dollars in reimbursement.

60 or 16.16.5.

And then I'll let Frida answer the remaining questions about if there's anything else that the city is owed as reimbursement because council member we're asking about is primarily the FEMA work for uh the Katrina projects, and again, just so the public knows we use the acronym J I R R.

Uh Deputy Mayor Ferguson has beaten to all of us that we should announce what the what the acronym is.

So it's the joint infrastructure recovery road program.

So if you hear us use the term JIRR, that's what we're referring to.

We want to make sure the committee is aware.

Frida?

Yes.

Um we do have in the bank 16.9 million from sewage and water board for the receivable, and we just received another 2.1 million from them, so that will reduce the 83 million that they owe us.

And as Joe spoke to earlier, we are still working with them to recover.

So they're basically over half of what they stated they would get to us by the end of 26 because they stated about 26, 29 million, and we have over close to 20 million already.

Now that's 16 and a half reimbursement.

Is that part of the 80 million?

Correct.

Okay.

That's paying back that receivable, yes, sir.

Okay.

Okay.

Yes.

All right.

Thank you, Frida.

You'll wow.

Um you I mean, you've said it before, 100 different bank bank accounts.

Um, is that like SOP for the city of New Orleans that that significantly increase during the last administration?

I'm gonna I'm gonna hand this over to this is why we have a team.

Alyssa's gonna answer that question.

Sure.

So um I'll I'll just clarify also that also includes our accounts at LAMP, which are you know in short-term reinvestments right there.

So it's not full completely liquid cash there.

But it is I would say standard practice if we're trying to keep the funds separate based on what they're used for or what they should be used for.

So when we take it down a notch and say what's our general fund and what are the um operations and operating accounts just for the city, it gets much smaller and it a little more manageable.

But my goal is to understand, you know, if we have inactive accounts, let's figure out if we can close them.

That's what my next question was gonna be.

Yeah, because some of them may have a small balance in it that's no longer being used, so can we move it over to general fund?

Um, can we close those accounts where appropriate?

Do we still have access to all of the accounts?

Yes.

Okay.

Yeah.

Frida?

Yes.

Um, so majority of those hundred accounts, you have to think about the bonds.

So every time we have capital bonds and go for a sale, we are required by the disclosures and resolutions to have two or three accounts per uh bond, right?

And so quite a few of that uh makes up the 100 accounts as well as at LAMP.

A lot of those bank accounts are for the aviation board.

They have several accounts, and you know they are a component unit of the city, and so out of the basic accounts that we really operate out of, it's probably about 40 accounts or less that we mainly use all of the time.

But as Alyssa said, there are some that are inactive, and so working with the list that we will work with the bank to get those closed.

Do you know let's say we open an account for a new bond measure?

Do you know if we close those once we exhaust that funding, or if it just stays open?

So they they have normally remained open because sometimes there's interest that is still there.

Um but that is part of the cleanup as well that we'll go through if those bonds are completed, we can close out those bank accounts.

Okay.

Um CAO Jerusalem, we've heard about the spending freeze and the hiring freeze.

I just wanted some, I guess some insight on the spending freeze.

Um, what does that mean in in practical terms?

Uh, and is that applied across the board across all city departments and agencies?

It applies across all city department and agencies, with obviously some exceptions.

Uh public safety in terms of being in control of their budget is one of them.

But remember, one of the hedges that we have there as far public safety agencies now, lease buyer, EMS, their overtime budget lives in the CAO's office.

Uh in addition to that, this morning I got notice that apparently half of the ORS office no longer has power.

So no longer has what power, no power.

Um, so I I signed right general fund money in order to turn the power back on because people need to work there.

But when it comes to other things, my real response to people is we need to think about what is a need and a want.

And the litmus test, council member, I've told my team is that if you are going to tell me that this is a need, then I want you to imagine in your head that you are both going to go to the second floor and tell the mayor to her eyes that this is a need, and that you would sit at this table and basic the entire council and be willing to explain to them as well.

If you can pass that litmus test, then I'm much more amenable to making that happen.

And obviously, council member, and I'm speaking to you, but also particularly the district members, we understand the importance of you've got to keep the lights on, you've got to keep grass being cut.

But also how we could consolidate some of those operations and improve efficiencies.

Okay.

Um you spoke about bringing some of the work in-house, fewer contracts for road work maintenance and sidewalk.

We saw the city, DPW did their first sidewalk repair in over a decade last week.

Um wanted to know, and that was something else that I talked about on the campaign trail.

Um theoretically, it it sounds like we'll save money if you're not contracting that out.

You certainly gain accountability and transparency if it's uh being done by the by a city department.

Has there been any analysis on savings that we could potentially recoup if we do more of that work in-house instead of contracting?

Yeah, um, I will say this uh the the deputy CO is better equipped to speak to those numbers than I am.

But remember also, for example, we talked about at governmental affairs committee that we didn't have um the auto CAD that allows you to draw all the things.

So as a result of letting the contractors charge that, Steve calculated that we're losing several hundred thousand dollars a year for a subscription that will cost us ten thousand dollars.

Wow.

So right, I see we were allowing every contractor to put that into their contract.

Because we don't have the software who needed to do it.

Uh so uh he is he I know he has started to take that and and candidly, that's the type of of rigor we're asking department heads for, is if we're gonna bring something in-house or change, then we need to be able to explain not only to ourselves but to the public and to the council what that looks like.

And I think also we are trying to figure out all funding mechanisms available to us to allow us to do those type of things.

So for example, can we use capital funding to take care of some of these needs that haven't been addressed before?

So that way we are not hitting the operating revenue as hard.

The mayor has said this before, and it's something that sticks with me, and I know is on her mind as well.

Is that while we're getting out of this mess and this chaos with our operating money, which is essentially property taxes, sales tax, use tax, and collecting and doing better there, we actually have a lot of room on the capital side.

So it's a it is not it, it is that is the piece where we can look to to see how we can maximize quality of life services for the people of the New Orleans.

Now, when you were talking about potentially using some of the capital butt budget for some of this, are you talking about like on the equipment side or as far as the day-to-day work being performed or both?

I don't want to get over my skis, which is why Jason is here.

Uh, I I feel very comfortable about the equipment because almost all of that has a tenure that's what uh life shell.

But I think um Jason has expressed some views about this as well and let him come to the microphone and talk about that.

I think also um, so you know to help Jason out, we've specifically asked about this too.

Okay.

So this is not um you're pulling them to the microphone for the first time.

This is something that everybody knows is of a grave importance, not only because it's campaign rhetoric, but because it's important for the residents.

So we want to make sure as we're working with you that there's potential solutions to those as well.

Thank you.

Jason.

Gotcha, thank you.

Jason Acres with Foley New Dell, uh, your bond council.

Just want to make sure I understood the question.

It was about bringing using capital funds from the bond uh dollars, general obligation bond dollars that get approved by the voters for in-house workers and things of that nature.

Yes, we've been working with the administration to put together a procedure that would uh qualify both under state law, under the city's home rule charter, and also under federal tax law to ensure that the bonds remain tax exempt.

It is possible as long as uh you meet certain criteria.

Uh, for example, the workers that are being uh being paid out of bond proceeds or reimbursed out of bond proceeds, uh have to be doing bond finance projects.

They can't be doing administrative work, they can't be doing general operating expenses.

Uh, they can't be doing just maintenance, they have to be doing bond finance projects.

So we've been working with uh Steve Nelson and the rest of the administration to put together a procedure that would be uh that will qualify and meet all of those, all of those check all those boxes that we have to check.

Okay.

Thank you, Jason.

Thank you.

Yeah, look, um the the bottom line is uh this was this was conceived in the mayor's office last week because we're talking about these issues and how do we get from A to B.

And and again, I want to stress this is not just the administration.

So for the millions of people watching at home, as council member green likes to say, uh, the reality is this is because you are asking this.

And because the council keeps on on, and I mean this in the nicest way possible, so no one's pushing and making sure that you're advocating on behalf of your constituency.

We want to stand with you and push to help to get to those solutions too.

Yeah, and I think you know, one of the best things we can do right now is be laser focused on improving those quality of life efforts, and I want to applaud you and the administration for for focusing on that right now.

We at least need to make people feel like um they get their money's worth compared to what they pay in taxes to the city.

So um I think we have a good focus here.

Uh thank you, Joe.

Thank you, Alyssa, for for answering my questions, and I look forward to working with you guys.

Same here.

Thank you.

Councilmember McCarron.

Thank you.

Thank you all for being here today.

Um, I have a couple questions about the big the big report you may not may or may not be able to answer, but just to get a kind of a update on our revenues.

Looks like we were at about 92% of budget on the 1130 report.

Um I know we don't quite yet have 1231 numbers, but um, do we expect to see revenues meet what is budgeted or exceeding can we turn that over to Frida?

Hi, Amy.

Hi, Frida.

Welcome back.

I know we do expect that we will have the December numbers for you all next week, so I can give you a concrete answer when we produce those reports for you next week.

Uh and and may I do this um be so bold?

Um you all have made very clear that there should be a different standard when it comes to the reports and what you want to see and how it is presented.

So let me say two things.

One is um in my zest to make sure that we were doing things the right way.

The charter actually sets forth provisions for the budget office and duties of the fiscal office, and we want to make sure that we help the fiscal office comply with those that are in the charter.

It's it's section two-453, and obviously we'd be happy to provide that to you.

And then secondly, as you all know, the numbers clearly change every single day.

So I think we need to develop with the council what is a good cadence on a what you want, and then B, if we meet, for example, on the Tuesday before Thursday council meeting, which ought to be our practice, that the numbers are gonna vary between even Tuesday and Thursday, but we are completely open to you know streamlining, changing, making easier candidly, as much, and I don't again I'm not trying to say anything bad about anybody, but this report that you all get submitted is like this thick, and it could probably be about a quarter as long with the information that you're really trying to seek.

And so um uh I know the chair uh and councilmember McCair and others on the council have stressed that, and so we want to make sure that we're providing that to you.

Yeah, especially on those funds like the individual funds where it's it shows the revenues and expenditures every month.

I don't know that all of them, I think there's different requirements for each individual fund.

Some may be that we are supposed to get it quarterly or annually, so you know it might be quite repetitive to get something per month like this.

If we you know need more details through it, then we can figure out which ones need to be monthly and which ones are quarterly and annual.

Council member, that's an excellent point.

Um professor used to say to us, I don't object to.

In fact, I encourage you to read your civil code, and so that is the mantra I've taken up with uh with the budget as well.

Um under the charter offices, departments are supposed to report on a quarterly basis.

So my my plan, and I have reminded the deputy mayors who have departments that don't flow directly to me, as well as the departments that flow up to CAO that we're gonna start doing that.

And so my hope is either in April or early May for you all to be able to see the quarter one, and and really to the count the questions all of you are asking is if there's any trend line that's positive, you're seeing it early.

If there's anything that's negative, you're seeing it early, and there can be collective course correction.

Frida, you can probably answer these, and maybe you can't, but they all kind of flow together with um 1130 report shows personnel projections.

We're gonna have 73 million dollar deficit, and then the operating was positive by what's that 30 million or something like that.

And so I know that once we've got everything collected, we'll have to do a cleanup ordinance.

Do you have any sense on what that might look like, how we're gonna fund it, which also kind of brings me to my question about what it what are the cash flow statements look like, and can the council or the budget committee receive copies of that so we're aware of what's happening.

My we're we're doing some internal tracking on my end, so we'd love to have an idea of what that looks like.

Absolutely.

Um, to the first point of the huge report that you're referring to right now, quite a bit of that came through council ordinance.

So we really look forward to working with you, council member Harris, to make sure that we now align those ordinances because most of that is because it was requested.

So we're very happy and open to go back through those, rescind the old ones and say, hey, let's have this report that's much more usable and readable for the audience, so we're really looking forward to that.

The cleanup ordinance.

Um right now, when we see the expenses over revenues for 2025, we will still have a net deficit spending for 2025.

There will not be anything to clean up.

We only will do a cleanup ordinance if we were adding if we had more revenue than expenses, we're gonna have more expenses than revenue.

So that's going to already be used, the general fund reserve that we have there.

So that's going to be fund balance.

So it won't be a need for a um cleanup ordinance only if we had more revenue than expenses in the year.

Do we have a sense of what that fund balance looks like yet?

We have uh prelim numbers, and we can email that to you.

Okay, that's great.

Yes.

Um, I think wait, let's see.

I'd like to get a copy of those two.

Yeah.

I will send it to all council members.

You all um the only other question I have is uh is there a rough estimate what was collected through the promise pay program for past two tickets?

Um I think the previous CAO had reported estimations were amount eight million in collections, but do we have any sense of that?

I I don't know the answer to that, not um, but we can find that out for you.

Um, and I guess I'll just look behind my team.

Can we just make sure the council member gets that information?

Okay, thank you.

Yeah, and please email it to all council members.

So on the I I wanted to ask about the tickets, but I wanted to let everybody else get their questions in.

Um you said part of the the effort is to recoup some of those outstanding ticket.

Um, and I forget you said we had not if you said how much we had outstanding due to us, but any idea on what it was around the hundred million dollars.

Yeah, I thought it was over a hundred.

Any idea on what what we'll do to recoup some of that money?

Um let's do it.

Is there anything we there is there is well let me I mean uh let me I I don't I think I may have shared this with some of you, so forgive me, but uh parking enforcement has changed, and we're already getting people who are saying, I don't understand why I got booted.

Well, sir or ma'am, you have five thousand dollars and that's in the tickets, so you're gonna get the boot.

Um, this is part of again the enforcement side of revenue, so it's not trying to raise things unnecessarily, but to enforce what's going to happen.

So, again, part one is is the 50 additional officers, and then part two is taking a more assertive approach with those people who have significant um backlogs.

You know, I'm obviously I will speak for myself here.

I'm not interested in a person who has one ticket for $50.

That's not who we're going after, but people who have in the thousands of dollars of tickets and they're not here, we need to take a different approach to.

And one of the things we're also have talked about, and again, this is a talking point, is like for those things that are in the middle of the street who are parking, whether it's Uber, whether it's a delivery service, how do we also capture revenue when it comes to them as well?

Uh, and and we can have conversations with you about what enforcement ought to look like because I think this ought to be again a joint thing.

There's clearly an equity issue, there's a pain point issue as well, but we want to make sure, particularly for the offenders.

I think the thing that we thought we could both be assertive but also conservative about the stopping of that.

Okay, thank you.

No, no, no.

Uh Councilmember Green, Councilmember King.

I just have Council Member Green.

That I want to ask for clarity's sake because, well, first off, thank you, and welcome Ms.

Rambo.

Welcome to the team.

That's quite a name to live up to Miss Ramble.

Looking forward to looking forward to working with you.

Um Mr.

CAO, there's misconceptions out there relative to the sanitation collections versus expenditures.

We collect approximately 34 million dollars from the sanitation fees, but we spend approximately 66 million dollars, right?

Yeah, it is.

So we have an annual deficit that's kind of built in that respect.

I don't um ask you to determine how we might address that in the future, but the bottom line is is that I just want to say before the public that um it's not correct that we to say that we collect in excess of the sanitation expenditures with the sanitation fee that we collect.

I know that you don't necessarily have an answer right now, but this presents an opportunity for folks to know that of the city's deficit annually, 30 million dollars of it is because the sanitation fees don't cover the expenses.

Thank thank you, council member.

Yes, I mean that is exactly right.

I also said it from the day, so now I'll say it from the table as well.

I don't think anybody's done a good job though of helping the council in particular prepare a visual of where of what it looks like.

Again, a simple of this is what it looked like pre-IDA, and how much the fees and the expenses matched up, and then as a result of all of the new contracts, the delta that you identified between what the city's collecting by not having raised the sanitation fee since 2012, and now what the actual cost is.

And so uh I will say that I think we need to be able to help you in a visual to be able to do that.

The mayor has already talked about that, council member Green.

And so I'm sure we will present something that makes it hopefully on one slide easy to the eye, so people can digest and see the disparity between where we were in 2021 and where we are in 2026.

I wasn't necessarily trying to get to what the determination might be, but there might be if the public is aware, there might be even help from the public as to identify you know what we might do to make that gap up.

There might be money out there that we don't think about, for example, on a federal level, because some of our expenditures have to do with the fact that we wanted more efficient vehicles, we wanted the trash to be picked up if it wasn't picked up the first time the same week.

We don't want to wait for a long period of time.

So there could be even federal and state assistance because we are trying to abide by environmental quality concerns, and that's why I raised it.

But I don't I want the public to know that we have a $30 million deficit each year relative to just sanitation alone.

Yes, thank you.

And and obviously, uh we will look everywhere that we possibly can at the same time.

We have to understand what's in our power, what we have to look at, and the realities that the city is facing going forward.

Uh, and that is important, and and and I I thank you for raising the issue earlier.

And and again, you all are are asking for open communication, and we want to engage in that, not only between ourselves because for the public so they start to see how things are headed and where things are going.

Councilmember King.

Thank you, Councilmember Harris.

Good morning, CAO Jerusalem and team.

I want to focus on the district issues, uh, the quality of life issues that may also help generate money.

You you mentioned enforcement.

So two things.

One um I think it's important to realize we don't want to start to just uh try to be too over overly aggressive with enforcement, but we we do need to enforce um certain certain things that may seem small, but they make a big deal in the everyday life of our constituents.

Um so one can is it possible to say, listen, um, I'm gonna let's use St.

Claude Avenue.

Um is it legal to park on the neutral grounds?

It's illegal to park on the bike lanes, in the bike lanes, starting such and such date, there will be an increased enforcement of parking in these areas.

So that way the word is out.

Um do it at your own risk, and that would limit the amount of backlash for more increased enforcement.

And I use St.

Claude because last Friday drove down St.

Claude from Poland all the way to to uh to the bridge.

Um and along throughout St.

Claude, there were there were vendors on the neutral ground, um, people illegally parked on the neutral ground, going to different establishments, and also in the bike lane.

Those present a couple issues because one, you know, the the the dangers of parking in the bike lane, you park on the neutral ground, then cars trying to cross St.

Claude, people trying to cross St.

Claude, can't clearly see oncoming traffic.

So one want to help with the with the uh the safety along St.

Claude, and two, speaking to Mr.

Caram, the parks and parkways, he said it cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to to repair the neutral grounds that have been damaged by the lack of of enforcement or by legal parking, which is encouraged by the lack of enforcement.

So um I think it's important to strengthen the enforcement of the legal parking slash legal vending on St.

Claude.

Let's send a um a public service announcement out before we do so that again minimize the the uh the backlash, and also on St.

St.

Bernard, we receive emails every seemingly like every every week, every Monday, um, our phone calls every Monday because of legal parking, illegal vending.

We had one lady say she wakes up to every every Monday or Sunday to trash on the ground because of the illegal vending, the illegal parking um creates parking issues and safety issues for her and her residence.

So um I would encourage those two areas to be looked at.

One if for enforcement just the overall quality of life, and two it may help tile some some low hanging fruit when it comes to enforcement.

I'm sorry, to money generating uh revenue reven revenue generating uh activities or ideas.

Also speaking to Captain Palumbo in the 8th district, mainly in the French quarter, he mentioned if he can get a strong crew just in the French quarter, um, how that would greatly increase some revenue and also help with the safety component because you have people parking in what's called the seventh, the triangle on the end of the end of the block, where EMS uh fire, they can't make the turn.

Um people double parking, Palo parking, and these aren't necessarily residents, these are visitors from other states, other parishes, other cities who who aren't really respecting the rules of our city and aren't respecting our residents.

So if we can look at some of those low-hanging fruit that would help generate some small dollars, but I think more importantly, um increase the safety and quality of life of those in those areas, and lastly, I can think of multiple vacant lands, um lighted properties owned by the city throughout the district, and also a lot of land that's owned by now defunct LLCs that are you know not paying taxes, they're not paying anything.

There, there's thousands of dollars of lien.

So, how can we aggressively go after those defunct LLCs or get those properties that are owned by the city in the hands of someone either by leasing or by selling it to them that would like to put those properties back in commerce?

All right, um, a few things on your first points.

Number one is I agree with you.

I wrote my notes finding the sweet spot by doing this because again, there's been enforcement, but it has to be even handed um and predictable.

The second is typically when I was on the council, my university area neighbors were entitled to parking enforcement, which they didn't get, but I also would warn them that if you do this, parking enforcement fans out into neighborhoods too, and they don't stop at one place.

So I would issue a date or or two dates when they would come.

So I will ask Deputy CAO Nelson to work with your office to find a date or dates when you would like parking enforcement to go to St.

Claude, St.

Bernard, the French Quarter, uh, probably for any of those, also letting constituents know that this is coming so they don't make a mistake and park the wrong way in front of their house or block a driveway unintentionally, because we do see people get caught in the dragnet when that happens.

Let me also use this as an opportunity to provide another update that I literally got yesterday as a result of of work the last council did and and pushing by this one.

Um the plan is to move parking enforcement over to NOPD by the end of February.

So I keep on reminding everybody that this will be a transition and there will be bumps.

But but I know I'm looking, I'm looking particularly again at the district council members that you all know there were problems about non-enforcing parking, about businesses affecting quality of life of surrounding neighborhoods as a result of the fact that you had to have parking enforcement go out and call NOPD, and so this will streamline that going forward.

So council member, I'll ask Steve Nelson to get in touch with your office and and probably Winston if that's okay.

A lot of additional people in the streets.

So Friday, Saturday, along St.

Claude, St.

Bernard, and definitely in the French quarter.

Got it.

Okay.

And again, I want to make sure you have the date so residents can be informed.

Definitely want to put people on notice that hey, starting this date be aware of then maybe additional parking report.

On the blighted property, one of the things I have on my to-do list for a meeting at four o'clock today with a larger team that's even here is sort of a budget framework for short, medium, long term.

And one of the things the past council worked on that was really important to them is something called the CAB or Central Adjudicatory Bureau.

We want to make sure on blight that it's one thing to implement, but it's another thing to adjudicate.

And so the adjudication has to work well and quickly enough through due process for short-term rentals or safety and permits violations for code enforcement violations, or HDLC violations, for VUCARA violations and the like.

So that is council member on my list of things, and also I specifically exempted yesterday cab employees from the furloughs because I view them as being mission critical to not only improving quality of life as part of public safety, but also in that sweet spot of generating revenue for the city on matters that are affecting residents.

And then last, uh obviously pursuing those LLCs, and and I I I've asked for this, I'll continue to ask for it.

Um we can be as many places as we can be, but certainly the district council members and the at large are eyes and ears.

We're happy to receive a list of two or three things that are maybe potentially the worst offenders, and try to have those expedited or put closer to the top of the list.

So that way it's helping you with your constituents and making sure that the city is addressing those in short order.

Um, and and to the extent about the city, I know that has been issues since Mayor Moreno was on the council, and I will elevate that to her as well.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

Um CAO Jeruso, Alyssa, for being here today.

I just do have some follow-up questions on the issue of vacant lots.

Councilmember King, uh, I floated to Mayor Moreno the idea of having vacant lot fees, which other cities have implemented, and I'd love to work with this administration and you to discuss how that might happen in the city of New Orleans because certainly we have a lot of lots that have been sitting there for many many years that should be taxed and we should get uh fees from on the issue of NOPD moving or parking enforcement moving to NOPD.

I'm so excited to hear that.

Um I know that's something that you and I talked about, uh CAO Jeruso, and that's really great.

I will say that I had a neighborhood meeting uh yesterday or the day before uh in a neighborhood that's along the the Mardi Gras routes, and they're very concerned about parking enforcement, and so that's another area where we should be dispatching tow trucks, parking enforcement personnel during Mardi Gras to make sure that we are getting the revenue that we are entitled to for people who are scoff laws.

The other place, since we're calling out district areas is Chick-fil-A right here, where we literally could station a parking enforcement officer as well as an NOP person because there are scuffles that happen, and we could just tick it constantly and get revenue from that area, and it would really help uh the bike lanes and the people who are just trying to get day-to-day to their jobs to and from.

I do want to turn to um overtime NOPD overtime.

What are we doing to ensure that we're not getting into the hole again with NOPD overtime?

Um Councilmember, I'm gonna answer your question, uh, but let me get to the things that you recited.

Uh obviously, for anybody who wants to work on raising additional revenue for the city, I will always make time for you.

And and obviously do it in a fair and equitable way.

We know how important that is uh because that is going to be the the linchpin of how we operate.

Uh, to your list, I would also add, I think I think this is in council member king's district in front of Canal Place is almost similarly bad too, and I have had my eyes on both of those.

And I have had my eyes on both of those.

So I will I will mention that to Deputy CEO Nelson because I agree with you.

Obviously, in proximity, I see it, but Canal Place is also a place where it happens.

On NOPD overtime, um, let me let me mention a couple of things.

Number one, one of the things that was important to the mayor and was important to us while we were on the council, is that NOPD is a huge organization where people are doing fine work, but they have not typically had somebody who has the rigor of Alyssa or Frida or others to provide.

So one of the things we are in the process of doing, and Alyssa actually drafted the job description is hiring a controller for NOPD, so that way NOPD has a person who will answer to the superintendent, but but effectively be attached to the administration to monitor these things.

Because frankly, council member overtime is obviously the significant money driver, but also if there are processes and procedures that can be implemented, and I'm not trying to pick on NOPD, but it's across the board, to streamline things, to look for other grants, to look for opportunities, to have better financial practices, having somebody who has that as their experience and subject matter expertise is important.

The other thing, and I look to my team behind me a little bit, is is I guess maybe threefold.

Number one, obviously, we still have in place the overtime mechanisms that are being monitored in concert with the LLA and through the city.

Um number two, in short order, you all will see from me next week a series of CAO policies, none of which ought to be really surprising, but overtime is included in that, and it's a extraordinarily detailed policy because we know how important that is.

And then and then last, um I I'll mention again what I said earlier, which is I think it's roughly 23 and a half million dollars of NOPD overtime is no longer in the NOPD budget, it lives in CAO.

And so it is going to have to be a monitoring.

Now, let's just be very thoughtful about this as a group.

Um D is going to not expend that on a monthly basis, even.

We know that a portion of that will be gone as a result of Marty World.

But at the same time, it ought to be within the budget that they should know regularly from what Mardi Gras is, and then how close are we there?

So again, I think that's that's an open opportunity for all of us to look at what is traditionally budgeted, how is it going to work, and then where NOPD and candidly the other agencies who help NOPD land their planes too.

Great, thank you.

Um I I do want to just talk about communication.

I can tell you that I've met with Mayor Moreno more times than I met with the former mayor in the past 11 days.

Um you and I are in constant contact.

I just want to make sure that you are in constant contact, and I know you are with every single member of this council.

I know that you're holding weekly meetings at this point.

I am.

Yeah, I mean, I am holding those weekly meetings.

What I'll likely start to do too, and you and I were talking about this, thank you for the prompting, is probably start having different department heads take my place because obviously I'll make myself available at any time anybody wants it, but to the extent somebody has more specific questions about revenues and expenses.

Alyssa and Frida are gonna have the information that you are looking for as opposed to me.

To the extent you have a question about light or parking enforcement, Austin Wilte or uh Steve Nelson will have better questions than I do.

I'll also candidly, and this is this is now from the mayor, the mayor's attitude is that department heads ought to be accessible to the council too.

And so if if you get to Joe fatigue and you need to go see a department head on a weekly basis or rotate through, as long as you give us enough notice to get into schedules, we'll make that work.

And of course, my commitment remains unwavering to every single one of you and the two members who aren't here today, that if you need something from CAO, whether it's finance related, operational related, or to the other deputy mayors, that we do our best to provide to the council and do so time.

Yeah, thank you for that.

And I I just want to echo council member McCarron's point about more readable reports.

This is fantastic, but this is I mean, we we're not gonna get through this in two days.

Um so Rita, Alyssa, if we can work with you and maybe the LLA on what more readable reports look like.

I know you come from a business background where profit loss statements are a thing, where balance sheets are a thing.

If we could just have those um to given to all city council members, I think that we all want to stay informed and on top of these things, and the cadence I think really is if not monthly, weekly, um, so that we understand exactly where we are at all times.

All right, absolutely.

Um, members, if it's subject to your pleasure, I know Chris has been kind at this time and he needs to like go crunch numbers on retention bonuses so we can get those done.

Um the the presentation for November 30th, I understand is loaded up.

So if the committee wants to hear Brandy is able to provide those to you, otherwise, I would ask that Alyssa and I'd be excused so we can go find money and help the city.

Go turn over those questions, Brandy.

If you want to come on up, then give us that report.

Um, and then we do have some uh some civil service pay plan motions that we need to get through before we adjourn.

And before I leave, I just want to again thank the council for helping us work through this chaos and complexity.

And I know it will be a team ever dig out of this mess together.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay.

That's why I was sure.

Yeah, I do have to read the good morning.

Good morning.

We're ready when you are.

I was gonna start.

So some of the questions, a lot of questions have been covered from the report.

A lot of questions.

And the part I was gonna start with is I know that we discussed last year some updates to the reporting structure on this report to make it more readable, especially with us having new council members.

I like I know Amy's familiar with seeing the report this way, and I know you all are and council member Green and King, but we have some new council members as well.

And so it's Frida stated some of this is in here because it was I think at some point it was just question we don't have this information, so another ordinance got adopted, and we added that information to the report.

So I think it will be helpful again to get some streamline done as as well.

So Frida's gonna go over some information with the revenue um collection.

Okay, thank you.

Um driven by a former economist, but we do not have one as of yet.

So, but I will go through this.

Uh so for the revenue for fiscal year um period ending November 30th, 2025, as of December 29, 2025.

You can see that the property tax, and forgive me, I don't have my glasses on, y'all.

Um, property tax right now is at 101% of budget.

Um the other taxes is 80 percent.

License and permits is at 100%, so we're doing very well in those areas.

We have 144% for intergovernmental.

We have 85 percent for service charges, and the rest of them are over 100 percent as well.

So, bottom line is 92 percent, and so that major one, I believe, council member uh McCarron that you were looking at is really that other taxes section, which encompasses the sales tax, and we have seen that in Matthew reported on this most of 25 that that was down.

Um, and so we do have to take into account that some of the legislative actions that occurred in Baton Rouge decreased our sales taxes that we retained, right?

And so we were keeping the percentage that we were paying to retaining from our leach Paris School Board, but because of that that we're in, we were lost that we lost some other revenue, and so that is why you're seeing us be down so much in that area.

Any other questions?

You said Councilmember Willard.

Thank you.

You said the changes at the state level to the sales tax rates reduced our sales tax.

So they no, I will get you a full we did a full uh PowerPoint presentation.

I'll get that to you.

Uh councilmember Willard.

Because of legislative actions, quite a few taxes were taken away from the city of New Orleans.

Right.

So halfway through the year is when they went into effect.

So that revenue we were collecting, we're no longer collecting.

Have we what are we getting?

Like new taxes were added to.

So there's the online digital tax for the streaming platforms and stuff like that.

Um, any insight as to what that's bringing in?

So I will get our uh revenue collector, Romy Schofield Samuel, to give you a detailed response on that.

Okay, but I believe she was stating that we were already retaining those.

We were already collecting those taxes.

The state wasn't, but we were.

Yeah, okay.

Yes, but I'll get a detail.

Yeah, I would like that information.

All right, thank you, Friedrich.

You also want to just point out the time of the year, yeah, we end.

So this report for revenue and for the expenditure side, we're towards the end of the year, right?

So we'll get your report for December as we start doing reports 2026.

We'll see numbers fluctuate.

We had time management as well.

Whether it's a request or administration request, that's critical, we really should be updating funding in a budget, right?

So where this it has to come from somewhere, and that somewhere at this time we know it's not our fund balance, right?

So, where are we gonna go in the budget to make those adjustments?

And so that we can become whole with that.

So that's a process we'll we'll be talking about.

So some of the implementation is already done, and we are also still working um with a consultant group who's helping us manage some pieces of the budget with this transition process as well.

So we're hopeful that we're not gonna be here again, and we're gonna communicate if we see those issues coming up, but we're gonna work with our operating budget or reduce other positions because we have to stay balanced and within the budget allotment that we know we have, and so like we did last year, it didn't help us because we were we were already behind, but we did make pivots when we found out we're not getting taxes for the rental car purchases, right?

So those things that we're losing money on, but we have to be on the forefront here sooner than what's happening here for these positions, yes.

And what is also included Councilmember McCarron has a question?

Brandy, quick question.

So I know when we receive the budget ordinances on the monthly basis to the committee, you know, you guys have done we work together on this on the legislative sheet on explaining like what this does, how it affects things, and you know, just thinking right now, maybe there's a way to also if there's positions or something like that, what what you're talking about making these changes to the budget, having on that sheet saying here's how it's gonna affect this department's budget versus this department's budget if we're moving things around like that, just something to think about as we as we move forward on those budget ordinance.

So I've already talked spoke to my team about updates that I want to see on those summary sheets, and so what is often on there is language that's already on the ordinance, and so like the average person is like, Well, what does that mean and what is happening, right?

So when a department normally requests an ordinance, or even if we're drafting an ordinance, there's a synopsis that we require what's happening.

Sometimes the synopsis is very generic, and we do understand it.

So what we're asking departments and not asking, letting them know if they submitted and say, Oh, I'm just moving money from here to here, that is fine.

What is the money going to do now?

So you're moving money from operating to personnel or personnel to operating, what are you gonna lose on that personnel side or the operating side?

So we can put that in that legislative summary.

And so when the public or the council members are reading that, they know what's happening and can make a decision too.

Like, well, maybe we have a concern, right?

Or before it gets past the CAO, he's like, wait a minute, I didn't think that was gonna happen.

We're gonna have a downfall there.

So we are requiring more information from the department so we can understand, even if it's grant funding, right?

So we have that.

What are the supplies or fine, but supplies to support what to support what action or initiative, right?

To give some more information out on the out front, right?

On that, so we've already talked about that for this year.

Thank you.

Appreciate that.

The operating expenditures right now, as of the end of November, showed a surplus of about 34 million.

That also included an encumbrance, which is money that is held and not spent or paid out, um, separate from that of 26 million.

All that 26 million will not be utilized.

It's just it just happens, right?

Whether something did not come in, so by the time it comes in or happens, it's really realized as a 2026 expenditure, or it's get canceled out.

Sometimes these are also like a cell phone bill or cable bill, maybe staff has left.

That bill has gone down, so that bill is going to close out, right?

And so we're working on processes with finance to determine how soon purchasing will be able to close out POs.

It's closer to that accrual process period, so we can know hey, it's actually 39 or 40 million that we have that are slept here as well.

So that's some changes we're gonna make as well, getting those POs looked at and evaluated sooner.

Yes, absolutely.

So starting this year, we will start closing out much sooner.

Um, as soon as the audit is completed, we will close out the year.

So audit is due by June 30th.

By September 1, we expect to have everything closed out for the previous year and roll forward the balances so that we can produce those balance sheets and all of those other types of financials that you're used to looking at.

The uh profit and loss that is real time, so we can do that.

That is current year activity.

A balance sheet is life to date, and so we'll be able to drop in those numbers and produce a report at any time, but to run that from the system, we're moving to as soon as the audit is completed, given a month and a half by September 1, we'll be able to report on the balance sheet activity.

And a best practice really would be in in our office has started the last two years.

We offer budget workshops, different workshops where we talk about budget training, managing your POs and your invoices.

The best practice is for a department to actually close out their POs on their own.

Yes, it just does not always happen.

So we have been communicating with departments because departments think if the PO is open, that comes from our previous year's budget.

But by a certain time, if the item comes in in 2026 or 2027, that is actually a 2026 expenditure, right?

So PO does not, so even if it the PO is open and it comes out, it counts against the current year's budget, right?

So we have been working, encouraging the departments to monitor, manage their POs.

We've even gone as far as to have staff members who work for us who manage POs on a daily basis to come in and provide training, how do they track their purchase orders?

How do they verify payments so we don't have payments outstanding, right?

How to follow up with your vendors, and maybe if that vendor is not gonna upload invoices timely, it's been months.

Maybe we should select another vendor next time for that service, right, to work with them because that all plays into the reports and the things that we're having done.

But the best practice is for us to get our departments to work with us on that.

So that's something we're messaging out in the workshops we're having.

And I did mention to Alyssa earlier this year that there may be an opportunity for finance to join some of our workshops for some of the pieces that our office does not cover, um, just to give more support to the fiscal staff in our department citywide.

Absolutely.

And I'm I'll just do a little plug.

We're gonna we we held back our offerings for this year because all the new um staff was not in place, and so one of the workshops we're gonna offer this year will be specific to new department heads or the deputy mayors to assist them with understanding their budget and how to work through that budget and from that side, and I'm gonna ask Alyssa or Frida from someone from their team account team to come in so they know what they're monitoring for invoicing, like we know a lot of it, but we want to make sure they know the connections in finance as well to help them with that, so we will be offering that as well.

And those are pretty much our tiger team meetings that we resurrected when we created brass and went to that platform in 2019, and what is really beneficial for us when we're trying to work is that the department heads understand what's going on, so they can make sure that their department fiscal person is responsible.

And what is really beneficial for us when we're trying to work is that the department heads understand what's going on so they can make sure that that department fiscal person is responsible.

That's where it's falling apart to where that fiscal person in the department isn't closing out the appeals, isn't ensuring that the invoices are uploaded, and then the department head has to come here and speak to you all, but they don't know what's going on.

So we want to educate everyone so everyone is a part of it and feel inclusive so we can have better reporting.

The next report just talks about staffing, and this is across all funding sources as of November the 30th, 2025.

And so we showed at that time 330 vacancies, and again, we had a higher and freeze, but all these areas did not have a hiring freeze, right?

So like 61 of those 330 positions with the airport, and the airport aggressively tries to hire.

They put their hiring freeze farms in, they're um posting those positions that we see there.

We limited the hiring freeze with places like municipal traffic court.

We also have large numbers in French Market Corporations, so while it's not all general funds, so all of these positions will not be impacted even going forward by the hiring freeze, right?

So there's still opportunity for us to get people in the door, helping in other areas to support, and as the CAO mentioned, there'll be exceptions to the hiring freeze and priorities that uh fit the mayor and the council, public safety, and those revenue generating spots, generation areas too, and then I I'm sure as we move on and increase revenues because discussions will be had to make sure too, like our city services, which is a priority, are staying fully staffed in those areas as well.

So um one area, even here 48 vacancies in NOPD, right?

Still a larger number there, and this is not broken down on this report, but the report following it is more of the detail like an extremely detailed report, which is pages and pages, which was a required report that we put presented, right?

But in that report, we will be able to determine are those public safety officers or are those people who work in administration for NOPD, like where are we lacking there?

But we what we do know, and even I spoke with Chief Ann recently, we still don't have the officers that we need, right?

So we always know that we're trying to get those officers staffed up.

Um last report, and I think this is one of the ones that when we look at that revenue report, the both expenditure reports, personnel.

We look at the other operating report, and then we have this.

It's like how do we put those four reports some kind of way together?

And I think there was a recommendation from the LLA on how we could do that, and then I think that we would we could do any support that's required of more detail, we could obviously provide that to back those items up.

But when I think about it, it's four different people who provide and produce those reports, so they're all going to look different, right?

So coming up with a mechanism where we can provide that information by fund, which would still give us the information here by fund detail, which covers those requirements because there's the there are requirements where some funds have to report monthly or quarterly, but this report had to be monthly, so it covered and satisfied the reports for the departments.

The departments themselves didn't have to because the finance report prepares this report already on their behalf, but for us to maybe have this broken out by fund with those revenues expenditures in a different manner, that may be more beneficial and easier on the eyes.

And if you say, hey, well, we want to know about the position detail.

Can you provide that?

We can hit a button and provide that report as well if that's requested.

And can you go to the last page of this report?

And so right here on that very last page, I let you all know we started adding when the LLA came in because the hot topic was what is the fund balance?

Are we, you know, where are we?

Do we have such a large deficit?

And so this is where I show you what the net deficit spending is for general fund, and then to show you what the unaudited fund balance is as of November 30th.

And I put that audited number there for you from 2024, so you can see what the fund balance was at the end of 24 and what we anticipate it to be.

And so that's what that yellow highlighted area is.

So the audited uh number is the end of 2024.

Do we have anything that shows us where we were, for example, November 30th, 2025, so we can make that comparison just to see.

Or 2024.

Oh, do you see what I'm saying?

2024 guys.

Meaning month to month.

Um, yes, I can run, yes, I can show that month to month.

Yeah, yeah.

So like 24 where we were 25.

Yes.

So we can anticipate that.

Perfect.

Thank you so much for you.

You're welcome.

And I'll just echo what my my boss said, the CAO and Alyssa was up here as well.

Like we're committed to working together.

Um and we we've already been doing that, all right.

So it's to continue that process and make it stronger with budget finance, the whole group to put produce the best results for the city and to make sure we have the most transparency going forward.

So as Frieda and I probably talk almost every day about pieces.

So she's learning more about where this is in the budget, and I'm understanding her financial pieces better so that if someone asks her and I'm not there, she can respond so we can support our superiors when those requests come forward.

If not, she'll call.

She has a personal number, so she'll call me and get the information.

So we're committed to that as well.

Well, thank you, uh Brandy and Frida, for keeping us straight and communicating with us so we know exactly where we are.

I know as the CAO said that we can call you, email you individually anytime to get the numbers that we need.

So thank you so much.

And I know we've reached out several times to get various numbers.

No problem.

Any other council members have any questions before we let them go?

All right, continue on.

Thank you so much.

Did you need us for any of the positions?

Are you no ma'am?

Okay.

Great.

Um Ashley, we're gonna go to the civil service positions.

We're gonna defer many of them, but there are some that need to be approved because they're not coming out of the general fund.

These specifically are SWEBNO positions and yacht club positions.

Um so we'll get through uh 4Q, 4R, 4V, 4W, 4X.

4T and 4U.

Do you need to read each of those all?

Civil Services here.

Civil Services here.

All right, good.

You can explain what's going on.

Good morning.

It's still morning.

Good morning.

Uh just I'm Robert Hagman, and this is Tia Harrison.

And we're both in a classification and compensation division.

You want me to um you want us to proceed?

Motion 2642 is a new job series for the Sorge and Water Board.

It's entitled Utility Inventory Control Technician.

This will be a series.

It essentially is going to be a group of people who will both tag and electronically record the storage in water boards inventory to get a great handle on it.

And it ranges from 38,000 a year for the entry to a 51,000 for the supervisor position.

Yes, great.

I'll move to approve.

Second by council member McCarron.

But your machines three A's, thank you.

Uh motion 2643 is a grade and hiring rate adjustment for the storage and water board safety administrator position.

It's gonna be now retitled to utility safety administrator.

Um, this change was necessary because of the increase in both the size of the scope of the Sorge and Water Board safety program.

It not only handles the essentially industrial type of safety, but it's also moving to environmental uh health issues at the Sorge and Water Board, such as dealing with chemicals and perhaps contagious disease.

It goes from uh the current salary is 74,000, it'll go up to 98,000, and that's tied to a another Sorge and Waterboard class of utility senior services manager.

Okay, council member Willard.

Uh thank you, madam chair.

So steep increase.

First time for me going through this.

I'm assuming these are kind of customary, but um, you know, we're we're and I know this is not city funds, but we're talking about the financial constraints we're under.

We heard earlier sewage and waterboard owes the city tens of millions of dollars.

Um I just want to make sure that you know we're we're doing the right thing and and being cautious here.

So um is this something that we we typically see this type of increase?

Since this sort of request was based on internal equity considerations at the Sorge and Water Board, because basically the water board utilizes a class called you to our series, it's the utility services series, and that came about about 15-20 years ago, and that was in efforts in effect to simplify the Sorge and Waterboard's classification system with this request, basically.

With this request, basically it be it does it it's consistent with past practices of how we deal with storage and waterboard issues.

In fact, we'll have another a number of classes that will be coming to you in a in a twenty in a year of 26 at a similar to this one.

Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.

I'll move to approve.

I need a second.

Seconded by Councilmember McCarron.

Three A's.

The yacht harbor is an enterprise fund, which essentially in effect it generates its own uh revenue through leases, rentals, and it even has in effect like long-term uh housing rentals.

This new classification would be like the business manager for the yacht harbor, and it would be at uh pay, it would be 70,000 a year.

The person that's this role is presently filled as an accountant three at the at the storage and water board, but the person's retiring.

In fact, the person may have retired, and this is um this is meant this is it's believed in effect by upgrading the position.

And if you know the counting three is non-exempt, this is an exempt.

Uh there's also a number uh other uh non-accounting responsibilities that are assigned to it.

Uh this rate is consistent in effect with uh positions of the city of comparable responsibility, it will pay 70,000 a year.

Okay, I'll move to approve.

Seconded by council member Willard.

Three A's motion 2646 is just a rule amendment.

It is this is basically it seems to be big, but it really isn't.

It's just to allow for the employee uh commissioner to be treated as working when he's uh when he's basically doing commission business during uh work time.

Any questions?

I'll move to approve.

Second by council member Willard.

Three A's motion 2647 is a new job series uh for the Sorge and Water Board.

Actually, motion 2647 and 2648 are related in a sense that that you know right now, in effect the Sorge and Water Board generates its own power through boilers and turbines.

Now, in effect, there's this conversion that all its energy sources will come from uh energy.

And so we in you know, in a sense, in effect, these classifications reflect the changes in the roles of the employees who are assigned to it.

Um the first series is the power control room operator series, and that ranges from its entry to 44,000 to the manager at 81,999.

Essentially, in effect, the surgeon waterboard will receive the power from integers, and basically, in effect, it'll be dealing with frequency changes is when the energy flows basically, it's not like a linear, it can vary it in effect.

These positions in effect regulate and make in effect the power distribution up to the other areas of operations in a uniform manner.

Okay, this has to do with the new power plant.

I'll move to approve.

Second by council member McCarron, all in favor.

And if we can bring up M 2648, it seems like a similar position.

It's a similar, these are the boots on a ground positions.

It's parallel to the uh to the uh control room series.

Basically, in effect, they will be checking and make sure that the that the power is in effect doing what it's supposed to do out in a field.

And once again, it's the the uh the pay is basically the same uh from 44,000 to 81,000 a year.

Great.

It's been moved and seconded.

Please put your machines three A's.

The last motion is 2649.

It's a pay grade uh adjustment for that for the classification of water purification manager.

Um there are two positions at the board, one on the east bank, one on the west bank.

This this basically adjustment in effect aligns it with similar positions of similar responsibility as the uh count as the council budget has just approved.

Okay, um move to approve.

Seconded by council member Willard.

Three A's, thank you.

Um the remainder of item number four shall be deferred because these positions are all coming from the general funds, and we have a hiring freeze.

But that'll move to adjourn.

Yes, ma'am.

Oh, do we have cards?

I don't think we have any cards.

No comments.

All right, second by council member McCarron.

All in favor.