The city of New Orleans has a reputation for skipping out on the bill! The city council today is set to take up the issue.
Council vice president J.P. Morrell says it has gotten so bad, there are companies who won't even bother submitting bids for work from the city of New Orleans.
"If you own a lighting company and the city of New Orleans put out this great bid to do lighting work...fixing traffic cameras, and you wanted to kick the tires and saw that every other lighting company wasn't bidding, and you call one of your competitors and they go, 'Yeah, I did work for the city. They owe me $2 million and I'll never get paid,' would you do the work?" asked Morrell.
"No other parishes, no other municipalities are sitting on tens of million so dollars of back unpaid bills," he said.
The council will take up an ordinance that requires the city to pay up within 30 days of receiving an invoice, as long as there are no disputes over the payment.
