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Our priorities for city government are the same today as
they were 40 years ago. We have always worked to make government more accountable -
finding more revenue sources and streamlining operations. Essentially, this was a
"Back to Basics" budget. This year we focused on getting smaller, by eliminating
duplicated services and positions and privatizing certain functions. We also worked on our
exterior. We replaced our police fleet, expanded the capital improvements program for
better streets and public buildings, and renovated New Orleans Recreation Department
playground facilities. -Mayor Marc H. Morial Second Budget Address Members of the City Council, city employees, citizens thank you so much for joining me on this important evening. Tonight, I respectfully introduce the 1996 budget to the City Council for consideration and review. This document will guide us for the next 12 months. It is our road map to the future. It will become a very familiar document to many of us over the next six weeks as we anticipate in budget hearings before the final adoption deadline Dec. 1. This budget process is a partnership between the council and mayor. It does not just represent the mayor's agenda, or the council's agenda. We may have differences of opinion, but this is not a contest of political wills or political agendas. If this budget process degenerates into a political squabble between the council and the mayor, the city will lose. Let me for a moment underscore what we have done together this year. Change has occurred because the council and the administration have had a cooperative spirit. In 1995, we energized city government with a "Smart Budget." Now, we continue to build on that foundation to prepare for the adoption of the revised city charter. Some of our 1995 accomplishments include a five percent pay raise for city employees; establishing a solid waste recycling and disposal program; and the initiation of aggressive revenue collection of property and sales taxes and license fees. Today, we have a new fleet management system with 200 new police cars and 22 new emergency medical service vehicles which increases reliability and visibility to our city vehicle fleet. The city now has a $6 million equipment replacement fund, which has assisted in upgrading our city hall computer systems and equipment for the Park and Parkway Commission and the streets departments. The New Orleans Recreation Department has been revitalized. This summer we had the largest summer camp in the history of NORD with 60 campsites and 16 pools. City workers received first ever comprehensive employee training. Together, we negotiated a Casino Support Services Agreement. The first ever full budget disclosure for judicial and parochial agencies was instituted. And, we reorganized the city's capital projects administration and secured voter approval to fund the "Rebuild New Orleans Now!" capital improvements program. It has not been a perfect effort. We have not been able to do everything we wanted. A pilot effort to privatize grass cutting in neighborhoods on neutral grounds and other common areas is still on the drawing boards. The cost to do the work was much higher than what we anticipated. However, we have not given up on the idea. The council and mayor together have managed to capture and maintain a spirit of change. This is not a question of political wills. It is a question of doing the right thing for New Orleans. To continue that spirit of change and to repeat the successes of 1995. We must unite now more than ever. Our challenges this next year are just as great as they were last year. As we prepared the 1996 budget document, we found a $30 million gap between planned expenditures and revenue estimates. To close this gap and make government more efficient, we put together a "Back to Basics" budget. This budget restructures city government by: consolidating operations, privatizing certain functions to maximize resources, eliminating non-essential vacant positions that were budgeted in 1995, and reallocating revenue support to city services like recreation, code enforcement and economic development. If we do not carefully consider this budget together and put aside political agendas, we may have to lay off employees and drastically reduce services. I know you are probably wondering - why this revenue gap? We gave city employees a pay raise that cost the city $7 million. I believe in the future we can close this revenue gap for good. First, we must remove the fiscal shackles from city government. Three days before one of the most important elections in the history of this state, let me call on the next governor to step to the plate to assist the largest and most economically important city in Louisiana. New Orleans is the state's economic engine. We should be recognized for that and assisted. There are other things that state government can do to assist local government like taking over the financial responsibility for operating the criminal justice system, which cost the city approximately $30 million annually. The state could also return a portion of a state income tax to the city. We will continue our presence in Baton Rouge at the Louisiana Legislature. It has been working for us. And I intend to continue that effort on behalf of the city. For a moment, I want to discuss gaming revenues. It is a fact that without them there would have been no pay raise for city employees and no revitalization of NORD. We will continue to conservatively estimate projected city budget revenues from gaming. I still believe that the industry should be heavily regulated. However, because of our need for new revenue sources, I would like to see the gaming industry be successful here. I believe combining gaming with other industries is a viable economic plus for New Orleans. Yes, we face challenges this year. How do we meet these challenges? We must re-engineer, restructure and make changes in the way government operates. Government must be made leaner, more efficient and more productive. As we made 1996 budget preparations, we discovered a copy of the 1955 city budget, the first one prepared after the the last new city charter was adopted in 1954. The issues in these budgets, more than 35 years apart, were the same. There were concerns about developing new revenue sources to finance government services and having the flexibility to change government from within, through consolidation and restructuring. Today, like 1954, we want to close the revenue gap. But not through layoffs or higher taxes. With either of those choices, citizens suffer a drastic reduction in services or higher taxes. We are not going to do that. What can we do immediately? Together, the City Council and the mayor can face the challenges of the 1996 budget and move the New Orleans government a step closer to the 21st century. I propose we eliminate the duplication of services and we restructure and redirect resources to make government operations more efficient. We are going to eliminate 200 currently unfilled positions and privatize the city's two municipal golf courses and its emergency medical services. Through the adjustment of revenues, we plan to reallocate $6 million in Community Development Block Grants to support programs in key city departments like recreation, sanitation, safety and permits, fire, parks and parkways commission and economic development. We will continue to aggressively collect property and sales taxes rightfully owed to the city. I have also secured a commitment from Governor Edwards that we will receive $10 million from a Casino Support Services Agreement. Operationally, we will conduct the first performance audit in our history. This audit will gather information to help us consolidate city department functions. We intend to continue our efforts to reduce health care costs to city employees and their families without sacrificing quality care. It looks as though we may can save the city between $3 and $5 million by combining insurance coverage with outside agencies. And, we intend to direct an independent audit of all judicial and parochial offices. This is not to be seen as a hammer but as a hand. If the city continues to be constitutionally mandated to fund these offices, we should know all there is to know about their operation. As I mentioned earlier, with the accomplishments of our 1995 budget, our spending priorities in the 1996 budget will remain the same. Public safety, recreation and youth services, economic development and quality of life concerns are the highest priorities. We are also looking into a program to control and eliminate the Formosan Termite problem in our city. This program will have a public education component and will be administered under the auspices of the Mosquito Control Board. Formosan Termites threaten our historical buildings, our old charming cottages and Victorian homes, and our beautiful 100-year-old oak trees. Another spending priority, which we are evaluating, is the police pay raise proposed by the Police Pay Commission. There are a variety of ways to do it but I am not ready to propose something specific. We have not had enough time to look at all the options. Such a pay raise will cost between $7 and $8 million. We need to get together on this one. I am not comfortable giving police a pay raise without raising the pay of other city employees. We need a consensus. I want the Police Pay Commission to present their report to the civil service commission. And, I want to continue dialogue on this one. I believe no accomplishment of the last year demonstrates more clearly our unity of purpose than the reorganization of the city's capital projects administration and the voter approval we worked to secure to continue our "Rebuild New Orleans Now!" capital improvements program. Rebuilding New Orleans is the future of our great city. This capital improvements program will help us upgrade and maintain our city streets, parks, playgrounds and public facilities. This effort touches the combined agendas of the City Council and the administration. "Rebuild New Orleans Now!" will improve public safety, recreation and youth services, and strengthen economic development and improve the quality of life in New Orleans. As a result of phase one of the Rebuild New Orleans program, 27 projects are already completed, 21 projects are under construction and 16 projects will be underway before the end of the year. Projects like the Harrell Park Stadium and renovations to both the Gentilly and the Smith Libraries are being done. All NORD playgrounds will have lights for evening activities. We have broken ground on a new Police Crime Lab, and the convention center has received $6 million towards its expansion. The design work has begun on street reconstruction projects on parts of Oak, the Tchoupitoulas Corridor, Louisiana, Esplanade, Galvez and Pressburg. The repair of our city's major streets is welcomed by everyone especially those who live on them. Some have dodged potholes driving to and from their homes for years. That is why we are proposing a contest that will name the top 10 worst streets in New Orleans. The winners of the contest will be added to our minor streets repair projects list. We want citizen involvement, so send your request with a description of your street and a photograph of the problem areas. Please send your information to the mayor's office addressed to the Top 10 Worst Streets Contest. Now the work begins for the council and the administration. Together with a united agenda that will benefit Republicans, Democrats, Eastbank, Westbank, Downtown and Uptown, we will reach a budget consensus. I am confident that an acceptable budget document will be adopted that will serve the immediate and future needs of New Orleans and all of its citizens. |
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