Mayor wins unanimous passage of first City budget
3rd December 2018 · 0 Comments
With a strong emphasis on improving public safety, raises for City of New Orleans workers and jail reforms, Mayor LaToya Cantrell managed to win over the City Council to unanimously approve her first budget as the city’s first female chief executive.
The New Orleans City Council unanimously approved a $701.9 million budget last Thursday to operate city government in 2019. When the separate budget for capital improvements is factored in, the total budget is $1 billion.
“And I know that we have taken the best step forward to ensure that 2019 will be brighter for the citizens of New Orleans, but also focusing on forecasting for the years after that,” said Mayor LaToya Cantrell during an afternoon press conference attended by council members following the budget vote.
The approved budget increases funding for the police department and some other facets of the criminal justice system.
“Ensuring that our New Orleans Police Department received the resources necessary to be effective, but not just looking at public safety through the lens of just the police department but through the lens of public health and also holistically as it relates to our criminal justice system again as a whole,” the mayor said.
The operating budget also invests in programs for children, including a new office of Youth and Family Services. Council members believe programs focused on young people will reduce crime in the future.
“We’ve got to stop creating criminals. Every dollar that we invest in our children will come back in a multiplier that we can’t even calculate. Think about how many kids will now be able to get jobs, will now be able to be contributing citizens,” said Councilman Jay Banks.
“It is better to build strong boys and girls than to try to repair broken men and women. We have $1.5 million to early childhood education which is about a 15-year investment in the City of New Orleans,” said Council President Jason Williams.
“The fact that we’re putting our money to invest in the systems from criminal justice to transportation, to children, to housing – that’s how we’re going to move this forward,” said Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson Palmer.
The budget includes $1 million for the city’s catch basin cleaning program.
“This isn’t just a reactionary budget. This is a pro-active budget that makes investments, so that at the end of the day we become that city that we’ve always wanted to be,” said Council Vice President Helena Moreno.
“This is the first win for today in the City of New Orleans and hoping for another one tonight,” said City Council Budget Committee Chairman Jared Brossett, talking about the budget vote and last Thursday’s Saints football game against the Cowboys.
Cantrell said starting in 2019, her administration will implement “zero-based” budgeting to make sure resources for city agencies are aligned with results.
After six months on the job, Cantrell, a Xavier grad and Los Angeles native, was elected vice chairman last week of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
This article originally published in the December 3, 2018 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
