New Orleans Mayor-elect Helena Moreno says she has no time to waste to set up her administration ahead of Inauguration Day, and the biggest item on her plate as she forms her government is the city's $160 million spending deficit.
Moreno says she will do her best to fill that gap without cutting city services.
"It's definitely a dire situation," Moreno said to WWL's Newell Normand.
According to Moreno, city ordinances limit how much she can pull from the city's rainy-day fund--$37 million to be exact.
"People are like: how is she going to get this done and still provide decent services for the people of this city? Well, I'm going to have to find a way," Moreno said. "We don't have an option. We have to figure out a path."
Moreno says part of that path is reducing the size of city government.
"Government does have to be right-sized, and I do actually see a lot of bloat," Moreno said, adding that part of that bloat comes from Mayor LaToya Cantrell's non-civil service appointments. "I will be asking all of the non-civil service employees to reapply for their jobs. I do see a lot of bloat in some higher-up non-civil service appointments by the mayor. These may be some positions that my administration may not necessarily need."
Moreno says she has to carefully figure out how to reallocate funds from any positions she cuts to essential city services, such as public works, sanitation, and code enforcement.
"I'm not going to be by any means intimidated by the challenge," Moreno said. "I'm just going to go straight into it and figure out the solutions."
Moreno says her victory in last week's primary affords her more time to work to find those solutions.
"It does give me the opportunity to really start working with councilmembers now on what major steps we need to take within government to find the right level of efficiencies to right-size government," Moreno said.
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