A new audit shows the city of New Orleans pays its vendors in a timely fashion, but only after a lot of fits and starts.
Once the city gets a bill from a vendor, it has 30 days to pay it. The Louisiana Legislative Auditor says those payments generally get out on time -- but Emily Dixon, manage with the performance auditor services section of the Legislative Auditor's office, said there is a catch.
"That clock only starts from the time that vendors upload accurate invoices into their BRASS system," said Dixon, referring to the city's accounting system.
Dixon says what they found was that vendors frequently encounter problems with the system for submitting invoices, and have a hard time getting help from the city.
"What we found is that there is a lot of delays that occur back and forth between the vendors and the city prior to when that actual 30 day clock starts," Dixon said. And she said often, people in city hall have no idea these delays are happening until a vendor complains about lack of payment.
"The city is not tracking those processes in order to determine where those delays are happening," she said.
According to Dixon, the auditor's office says it told the city that it needs to do better in tracking the billing process the moment work is completed, and says the city has shown progress in doing that.
The New Orleans City Council is responding.