A few days after her top aide said he would enforce city policy requiring New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell repay the cost of her travel upgrades, the mayor today said she is "moving forward to do that."
Friday, Chief Administrative Officer Gilbert Montaño said he would talk to the mayor about working out repayment of the money. Public records show the cost of the mayor's upgrades to be around $30,000.
According to the Times-Picayune | New Orleans Advocate, Cantrell did not specify a timeline for the repayments.
City policy requires employees book the least-expensive fare when flying on city business. Cantrell's upgrades to first and business class on flights abroad drew controversy, and the controversy only grew more heated when the mayor initially claimed she did not need to pay back the money. Cantrell's logic was that the mayor is not considered an employee of the city.
Those comments led to the New Orleans City Council asking the city attorney for a legal opinion on the matter. City attorney Donesia Turner, a Cantrell appointee, issued an opinion that the mayor is bound by the same city policy as any other city worker.
