I’ve been highly critical of Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson recently. But today, I’m coming to her defense on a very concerning issue.
That said, I still believe her resignation is in the best interest of the city, its constituents, and the facility she's run into the ground.
But...
Orleans Parish jail is in financial and operational distress for a multitude of reasons. And Cantrell’s administration has just made their problem infinitely worse.
The city typically makes a 10 million dollar quarterly allocation to OPSO. These are the finances the city dishes out to sustain operations and upkeep of the jail.
However, the city is cutting OPSO’s quarterly allocation in half, money that only might be given back in 45 days.
We also can’t be sure if this payment schedule will remain permanent or not; the city hasn't said, but Hutson is on record saying it might impede her agency’s ability to make payroll.
Why is this happening? Clearly, it’s not because they’ve discovered OPSO doesn’t need the money. Financially, OPSO is in shambles to the tune of $9 million.
What's happening is a direct result of the city’s inability to manage FEMA reimbursements.
I can’t believe I’m saying this again, for the millionth time: It’s fine to go out and get federal grants. However, you have to have the ability to receive these grants. You must be able to dot I’s and cross T’s. You have to be able to set aside money and to build a repayment plan.
Getting the money is easy. Managing the money is another thing entirely, because if you get behind, you lose control, and horrible things happen.
And here we are, facing the reality that City Hall has refused to face. And it comes at the cost of our safety. They’re withholding the Sheriff’s Office quarterly allocation, and they may even cut the payement ot the DA. These are two agencies massively important to public safety, to citizens, business owners, and visitors.
The city decided to make finances a joke. And now it’s their joke we’re living in.
How many times have we heard “Money isn’t an issue” from City Hall? Now we know why. It’s not that it wasn’t an issue. It’s because they weren't treating it like an issue.
Instead, they relied on the sound financial principle of not paying the money they owed. Vendors, for the longest period of time, were not being paid. Vendors were, functionally, the city’s working capital. The city used vendor money as a crutch to make it through a fiscal year on a cash basis.
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And guess what happened? The issue swelled to the point where the council had to step in and say: This is no longer acceptable. We’re putting out bids on city projects, and nobody is bidding. Why? Because nobody’s getting paid.
Vendors borrowed money from the bank to pay their people and sustain their operations. Of course, the city is obligated to pay them, but come pay day…Nothing.
Then they’d boast about their secure financial position, saying they had more cash than they knew what to do with, but now we know that that was dishonest. They were just hanging on to borrowed money.
The sad, unsettling truth is that we’ve never been given the truth, ever, as it relates to the finances of city government under this administration.
This is why the council had to step in and make a series of patchwork resolutions. Because it’s not just us who were lied to. The city council isn't being told the truth either.
The city asked for extension after extension after extension from FEMA. And guess what? Big Brother is giving us a taste of our own medicine.
Now we’re in such a cash crunch that we can’t even pay lifeguards on time. And I wonder how many other people aren't being paid pursuant to their city contracts?
The result is now the need to make cuts with a machete, not a scalpel. We’re making blind slashes to OPSO, who already face staffing and infrastructure issues, and we want to undercut them now?
We can’t risk public safety because of our government's inability ot manage its checkbooks. Yet that’s exactly what we’re doing.
And where’s the mayor? All over the world attending climate conferences.
Here’s my suggestion. I suggest she take another trip. First, see if there’s any room in the city budget for a bus pass. Then hop on the 55 to UNO and enroll in Accounting 101.
I hate to do it, but I must repeat myself. We'd better think long and hard about who we elect as our next leader, folks.
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