Hearing of the City Council.

Good morning to everyone on the City Council panel and everyone present here today. The first thing I want to present to the City Council, I applied for my property tax freeze back 2015, 16, 17. I was awarded this freeze in October of 2019. I'm not going to go any further. You can go back to the original date, October of 2019, and you'll find it was approved. Second of all, I'm not going to take up your time because I know it's very important. And I see a gentleman here today I'm familiar with, not personally, but this reflects a situation. And let me tell you something, if I cry, it's not because of what I'm doing today is to keep praying and protecting what's mine. I have been living with raw sewer backing up in my home. Upon returning home in 2014, up to this day, I can't get any coverage from the media. The only one I believe in this city. I've written to Jay Banks, LaToya Cantrell, Oliver Thomas, and Ms. Harris. I get no assistance. Can you imagine? Every day, every week, every month. Every month. This is my injury, plunging raw sewer as of this day, as of this day. But nevertheless, I'm here. I received a letter last month. I took it to Civil District Court, and I talked to several people involved with the law. Civil District Court sent me to legal aid, who I discussed it with four times. The lady asked me to talk to her. That's your time, Ms. Walton. Thank you. That's your time. Yeah, everybody gets two minutes, ma'am. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Next up, Darnell Philipson, followed by Nellie Katzen. Mr. Philipson. Sorry, Mrs. Philipson. I apologize. Is it? Okay. As I stand before you today, before two Native New Orleanians make the final decision to put their home on the market and become part of a growing number of families leaving Louisiana, a decade's worth of documentation is being released to state officials. Native New Orleanians who did not experience the same level of destruction remained committed to rebuilding the communities and schools that were devastated. Their commitment was never limited to their own neighborhoods. It was about restoring opportunities and ensuring that every community had the resources needed to recover. Unfortunately, serious questions remain about the management and potential misappropriation of millions of dollars in federal funding. It appears that city council allowed individuals and organizations from outside New Orleans to exercise financial authority over those funds, raising questions about whether their priorities align with the needs of the communities they were entrusted to serve. My hope is that these documents will provide the missing pieces of a puzzle that has remained unresolved far too long. The residents of the New Orleans deserve to know where those federal dollars went, who controlled them, and what role the city council played in authorizing overseeing those financial arrangements. The goal is to not draw conclusions before the facts are established, but to provide the transparency and accountability that residents have been denied far too long. Thank you. Next up, Nellie Katzen followed by Morgan Clevenger. NELLIE KATZEN Good morning. Nellie Katzen, 1242 St. Rock, with the Committee for a Better New Orleans. I'm grateful for the opportunity to have this public hearing and to go straight into public comment. And I think it would be valuable for the people assembled here today to understand really what's being considered. I know that there were a number of proposals that were put forward by the administration for the consideration of the council. One was rolling forward all of the millages that would raise $42 million for the city's general fund and other funds, and the other was rolling forward only the general fund-related millages, which includes a little bit of additional funding for external agencies, City Park and Audubon, that would raise $21 million. Is there going to be a discussion from the council as to what is being decided today? Joe, why don't you answer that? JOE DUNLAP Yeah, so to answer that question, Ms. Katzen is right. We discussed early on potentially rolling the millages forward all the way, and at the council's request, and I think even with CB and OMAC pushing, push forward an online calculator so people could see and toggle through. What is under consideration today, by request from the mayor, so everybody understands it means the mayor asked the council to carry this forward, is millage rolled forward for general alimony, which is essentially 1.82 mils, police and fire, which is 1.46 mils, and then the park millages, which are Audubon and City Park, as well as Park and Parkways and Nord, which is 0.759 mils. So a total of 4.039 mils to be rolled forward under consideration. Which reflects what was discussed at the previous hearing discussing millages, which was that this would not be a complete millage roll forward. It would be only of the items that impact the general fund. That's correct. Thank you. And Joe, how much overall will that bring in? It's $23.27 million, yeah. All right. Thank you. You can have another minute. Thank you. But just to be clear, when you ask a question, that doesn't stop your time, which is why when people typically come up, they make their statement rather than engage in a dialogue. So this is kind of your mulligan, but you should know this, Nellie. You've been here before. I appreciate that, and I also appreciate the opportunity for a two-way dialogue, which I know is so important to many of you all. To clarify, that means that the early childhood millage and the library millage are both not being rolled forward. So I just wanted to make sure that that was stated aloud for the folks here. As you know, the Big Easy Budget Coalition and the Committee for a Better New Orleans have been working alongside both the council and the administration to advocate for greater transparency with how money is being spent and how that will impact taxpayers.

We're really grateful for the calculator tool. We've found that it's been really helpful for people to understand what's being proposed. And I'm grateful for the clarity here this morning. We have said repeatedly that social programs that impact everyday people, especially our most vulnerable people, should never have been on the chopping block in the first place. We understand that taxes are for services and the government needs the tax money in order to provide those services. But this was not the way to go. Thank you. Ms. Clevenger. Good morning. So our first speaker today emphasized something that we are all feeling in the city of New Orleans. As New Orleanians, we came back, those of us who could. We rebuilt. It was a really, really long, hard rebuild after Katrina. And we are now back in suffering from that five years of the trifecta of pandemic, IDA, and homeowners insurance. And yet we're not seeing a recovery from that. And the same 46%, 47% of property owners, mostly homeowners, are being asked once again to take up the slack. And we heard during a lot of the budget hearings recently about how those years, the ARPA funds, the federal funds flowed through this city, and how Dodge Chargers and SUVs added employees to City Hall. All these things happened. $50 million was approved by the City Council in 2023 for vehicles. What's happened to those vehicles? But I know that $50 million, if it had been spent on actual recovery for our homeowners, we would be in a much better position today. We would be a stronger city. So to keep coming back to the homeowners, the small business owners that are under tremendous pressure, and ask them for more is really not a moral position. You're not on the right side of this if we're going to keep coming back to the original investors of this city. So I ask you all to really consider what you're doing here with a roll forward of the millage. Thank you very much. All right, we're still on 2A. Yes, sorry, Council Member Woolley. Joe, what would the deficit be with the roll forward? Well, Council Member, let's take a step back, if I may. The total deficit is around $100 million between what expenses are slated to be and what the revenue is. We have one-time money that is $23 million that gets to $77 million. So if we have no roll forward, you're looking at $77 million of expenses that have to be cut. And as I said earlier, instead of having to cut all of that, you can essentially take it down by a third by doing this. So it would reduce from $77 minus $23, which gets you to close to $50 million, which is a significant reduction. Thank you. All right, Hamilton Simmons-Jones. Good morning, thanks for having me. In 2022, voters approved early childhood education millage. And we know you all have been champions on that issue for many years. And 62% of voters voted in favor. And consistently, it polls very high as one of the things voters want their tax dollars to go towards. That investment is matched dollar for dollar by the state and now allows us to serve over 1,800 children who have high quality early childhood education. But there are still more than 5,000 families who need that and cannot access it. Our child care providers are ready to serve more families. We have the infrastructure for it. But the early childhood education millage is not currently included in the roll forward plans. And we ask you to consider including it. It would cost, according to the calculator, $0.89 a month for the average household with $250,000 property with homestead exemption. And rolling it forward could allow us to help hundreds more families. Any additional dollar we put there gets a state matching fund dollar. So it's one of the few places that we can double our money when we invest. And we want you to consider including the early childhood education millage in the roll forward. Thank you. Dakota Shelton, followed by Lottie Greiner. Hi. Thank you, council, for having us today. Good morning, council president and members of the council. My name is Dakota Shelton. I serve as an organizer for the Power Coalition for Equity and Justice. I'm asking you to roll forward the early childhood education millage this year to the five full mill voters approved in 2022. Power Coalition helped educate and mobilize voters to pass this millage. Because access to quality education should never depend on how much a parent earns. Voters said yes, but the millage has never been rolled forward. So the city now collects less than voters approved, even as the cost of care keeps rising. Every November, we hold an early childhood education listening session with our community. And year after year, parents and grandparents tell us there is a need for more support. These conversations led our organization to have deep support for this millage in 2022. The millage is working. Nearly every family in city seats says it helped them find or keep a job. For parents, a child care seat can mean taking that job, staying employed, or finishing school. For a child, it means a strong start in the years that we know matter most. And for our child care centers, many of them small local businesses, it means being able to keep their doors open. New Orleans has also become a model partners have shared with what we learned with nearby parishes exploring the same approach. That approach is to organize the community, dedicate local funding, and bring in state matching dollars. We cannot ask another community to follow our lead while we let our own commitments slip. Rolling forward, this millage will cost a typical homeowner about $0.89 a month with the state match. That means care for more than 250 more children. You're already rolling forward with the millage for police, fire, and city services. Early childhood education deserves to be on that list. Thank you all. Thank you. Lonnie Granier, followed by Mr. Adun. Mr. Adin, sorry. Thank you, Mr. President. Good morning, council members.

Lonnie Granier for Odyssey House, which operates the city's low barrier shelter program. First, thank you for your support for the low barrier shelter program. First, thank you to every council member for meeting with Odyssey House, for your partnership and assurance that the shelter would be preserved in the budget, and for your individual efforts with business and neighborhood organizations to identify supplemental funding for the shelter. We appreciate the time, care, and attention that you have devoted to finding a path forward. OHL takes no position on the proposed millage roll forward. Our purpose today is to emphasize the importance of preserving the essential services as you weigh the city's funding decisions. The low barrier shelter provides more than a safe place to sleep for 296 residents. It connects people experiencing homelessness with health care, addiction treatment, case management, employment resources, and pathways to housing. As you heard from some current and former shelter guests last month, it offers stability that can make recovery and a return to independence possible. Hundreds of New Orleanians are thriving in our communities today, housed, healed, employed, contributing, because of your investment in the shelter. But without sufficient funding, closure of the low barrier shelter would put hundreds of vulnerable people back on our streets, interrupt connections to care, devastate the local economy, and place additional pressure on neighborhoods, businesses, and public services. The impact on our city in closing the shelter would be vast and immeasurable. We respectfully urge the council to secure the funding necessary to maintain uninterrupted shelter operations and continue working with city, state, and community partners towards sustainable funding. Thank you for your partnership and ongoing commitment to the people the shelter serves. All right, Mr. Dean, followed by Mr. Kelly. Thank you. Good morning, council members. Hi, my name is Osoruo Mweseyadun. Thank you for your work thus far. I want to start with some personal reflections and stories. I, through my time being in the city and being in city hall, I've listened to residents consistently express how they feel like they've gotten the shorter end of the stick all the time, expressing the fact that they don't trust many of you, quite frankly. That's not a reflection of my sentiments. But I would implore you to think back about the sanitation issue, Delta Utilities, the Omni Hotel, and what would be approaching nearly almost a billion in tax breaks for developers and hoteliers in the city of New Orleans. And the millage that you're seeking today is reflective of what Mr. Morrell, in previous meetings, had called a regressive tax. I'm seeking that you consider something that's a little bit more progressive. I hope that's clear. So what I'm hoping that you consider is the budget for the New Orleans Police Department, and it not necessarily being reflective of the work that they've done thus far, considering that many interest groups representing human rights and civil rights have stated that Sixth Amendment rights and the First Amendment right have been violated by the New Orleans Police Department. Moreover, the New Orleans Health Department is the driving factor behind the reduction in violent crime. So I hope that you consider all of those things. Mr. Kelly, before you come up, if you're going to quote me, Mr. Adun, I actually said property taxes are not regressive. By definition, sales taxes are regressive. So just a correction for you. I've never said property taxes are regressive. Thank you, Mr. Kelly. Come on up. Good morning. Russell Kelly, thanks for the time to speak. As I say, only in New Orleans, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Taxpayers, property owners, public service announcement. Steve Nelson sitting right there who's making the decision. He's making $68,806 more than his predecessor. Judge Russo is making $106,795.73 more than his predecessor. Brandy DeLarge has a 30, all this according to public record requests, making $33,871.13 more. Jeffrey Swartz, who's Mr. CAO's urban person, making an additional $49,845.25. Kim DeLarge, her brother, chief of staff, is making $19,936 more. Steve Nelson, I called him already. That's a total of $279,254.08 increase in their pay. CAO's office hired five people for a total of $488,428.19. Kim DeLarge, who's over at the grants department, based on my two public record requests, between June 2026 and October 15, 2026, he gave out $60,109.52 and raises in his department. Only in New Orleans, you keep asking for money from the property owners and the taxpayers while the rich get richer. Thank you. Sophia Scarano, followed by Israel O'Day. Hi, thank you so much for having me. My name is Sophia Scarano. I live in City Council District C, and I work every day supporting local entrepreneurs grow thriving businesses. I'm directly asking the City Council to include the early childhood education millage in the City Council's Roll Forward plans. Every day, I'm working with educators who are ready, able, and willing to provide high-quality care, and their work is not just necessary for families. It's necessary for our economy. An LPIC poll found parents reported spending nearly $870 per month on child care for just one child. In a family of four, earning $1 more than $74,000 means losing all child care assistance. The impact of rolling forward the early childhood education millage on the average household is minimal, and this access to child care helps our economy. The question in front of the legislature is not whether the need is real, it's whether we fund it. So I'm asking that you please include the ECE millage in the City Council's Roll Forward plans. Thank you. Thank you. Israel O'Day? Israel O'Day? All right, going. All right, Ms.

Cleveland, do you have a second card on 2B? Do you wish to speak on 2B? Yeah, I'm not really sure what the difference was. I talked to the young lady, but I'll address it. Thank you. So you mentioned before about asking questions, and I think it is really important to have that dialogue because there are a lot of questions that the constituents have to help us understand better what's really going on. So I would like to ask a question. You don't have to answer it, but I would like to ask all of you how many of your constituents have called or emailed or contacted you and said, we're for a roll forward in the millage? I mean, how many are for that? That would be a good thing to know. I think it's also important to remember that 2027 is a quadrennial assessment year. Given the situation with the assessor and what usually happens in an assessment year, quadrennial year, we see the property tax assessments go up. Now this year, the board of review, which I understand to be a representative of the city council, there were multimillion dollar properties on Audubon Boulevard, on Newcomb Boulevard, on Magazine Street, Baton Rouge, that got huge reductions in their tax assessment right before this roll forward of the millage that's being proposed. And that's millions of dollars, collectively, of those 500 that are on that list that they now have a reduction. So the other piece is, where are the services? Because if you're saying we've got to pay more, why are the lights still out on North Broad? We have another whole block out. I mean, this is just basic stuff. So if we've got to pay more, we need to get more back at basic services. And I would also like to just say, we're fighting for our lives. We're fighting for our homes. We're fighting to stay in New Orleans. We love New Orleans. We want it to work. But we need economic stability. And we need to know that next year, are you going to roll it forward again? Or do we get to roll back? Thank you. I have no further cards. There is no action item on this agenda, other than the motion we've already done. So I will move to adjourn this meeting. Hearing, hearing, hearing. Move to adjourn this hearing. Apologize. It's a hearing. Seconded by Councilor Burr-Harris. Please vote your machines. Aye. All right, all in favor? Aye. Seven yays, no nays. This hearing is adjourned. We'll take a five-minute recess to reset the machines for our regularly scheduled council meeting.