New Orleans Councilman At-large Matthew Willard joined WWL to talk about the city's ongoing financial concerns in light of a recent budget meeting where CAO Joe Giarrusso addressed the city’s $224 million budget crisis.
(Click the above player to access the full Matthew Willard interview)
Giarrusso called it a “dire situation,” revealing that New Orleans is severely lagging on property tax collection. Around 70% of New Orleans property owners have not yet paid their property taxes.
Given the city’s instability, Willard explains that even “A delay in a few days for a property tax bill, a delay of a couple of weeks in a sales tax bill, really has financial ramifications for the city of New Orleans right now.”
"As of last week, we had less than a month of operating expenses in the city's general fund," Willard reveals, "which means we are essentially operating on a week-to-week basis."
Willard explains that, as a result, New Orleans businesses and property owners might see a stronger crackdown on payment enforcement.
“Enforced compliance is really something that Mayor Moreno has been talking about,” says Willard. “The city council has been talking about. Now we just have to, if there are policy solutions we can bring forth to bring more compliance to the table.
Willard explains that the hope is to continue to use the general fund to keep the city afloat through the summer before returning to the state bond commission.
“We really are in a bad position," states Willard. "But I firmly believe we have a good team assembled to get us through this crisis and have New Orleans in the best position it's been in decades.”
The councilman at-large urges all those with late property tax payments to render the money as soon as possible.
“Property tax bills were due Feb 28th," Willard says. "You accrue interest with each month you’re late. Anybody listening who hasn’t paid their property tax bill, please pay it today. You’ll save yourself some money, and the city can actually use the revenue right now."