New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno says her office is overhauling the city's sanitation system.
One of the biggest changes will be customers paying what trash collection actually costs... like most other municipalities and parishes.
“This system has been broken for years, and too many of these problems were identified and then allowed to continue. We are going to fix all sides of it, who is being billed, how much the service actually costs and how the records are maintained," Moreno said in a news release.
She insists her administration is finally fixing years of problems instead of just passing them on to future leaders, like was done in the past.
"We are going to build a sanitation system that is accurate, accountable and financially sustainable."
The news release says that the reforms follow a Louisiana Legislative Auditor review that the mayor requested.
The report identified two fundamental problems:
- An unsustainable funding structure
- An outdated service-location database requiring significant reconciliation and modernization
The mayor's office calls these problems "longstanding."
During the "Talk to the Mayor" show on WWL Radio recently, the mayor explained that customers do not pay what it costs to pick up the trash.
“Something I never wanted to do or touch, because it is such a lighting rod… is the sanitation fee,” Moreno told WWL's Newell Normand.
A report shows the city collects $38 million annually from customers for sanitation, but it costs $62 million in expenses.
The $24 fee has not gone up since 2011.
The Mayor says it hurts her to have to raise the customer price, but other parishes match the cost to the expense.
“I hate to do it… but as CEO of the city I have to do what is responsible as far as putting in line a fee that is just so completely out of whack.”
Moreno says part of the problem is accuracy issues.
"The Auditor’s current review identified thousands of potentially improper service locations, including retired, duplicate and potentially ineligible addresses," according to the news release. "City service-location records and Sewerage and Water Board billing records do not consistently align, including discrepancies between the number of units serviced and the number billed."
The city says contractor costs have increased, while the city’s fee structure has not kept pace.
The City has also not charged residents a recycling fee since Hurricane Katrina, despite curbside recycling resuming in 2011.
How much will bills increase? We should find out in the coming days.
"The Administration is also completing a cost-of-service analysis and final calculations for a revised sanitation fee based on the actual cost of providing service, which will be presented to the City Council next week."
