The New Orleans City Council approved a nearly $1.5 billion city budget for 2023 on Dec. 1, after a month of hearings determining spending priorities for the new year.
“What you’ll see in this budget is what I’ve consistently called the ‘and’ proposal,” budget committee chairman Joe Giarusso said. “You will see public safety and youth department. affordable housing and burn reduction. Road works in progress and repair potholes, lights and erect signs.
The budget includes both recurring revenue and one-time funds, including unspent money from previous years, and the majority of the city’s remaining federal COVID relief funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. ARPA funding represents approximately $124 million of the budget.
The largest one-time amount of money — $100 million — will go to a reserve fund for upfront costs in future emergencies and to shore up the city’s credit rating. Other grantees include a $32.5 million police recruitment and retention program, $20.9 million for “burn remediation and beautification”, $15 million for a new sub -power station at the Sewerage and Water Board’s Carrollton plant and $5 million for new programs to support the city’s homeless population. .
New Orleans Public Radio has extensively covered housing and transportation issues throughout the city over the past year. The budget items below, while not the costliest projects or programs coming in 2023, are just a few of the plans city officials have highlighted as priorities for transportation and housing needs in New Orleans.
EV charging plan
Proposed by Council Member Lesli Harris, the budget includes $200,000 to fund a new citywide electric vehicle charging plan.
The city has already started installing Free electric vehicle charging stations on city-owned landand in early 2022, the board adopted a arrangement directing the city to begin transitioning its fleet to electric vehicles.
But charging infrastructure development has been piecemeal so far, said Alison Poort, Harris’ chief of staff. A new strategic plan – inspired by a Red Stick officials deployed this year — will incorporate community feedback on charging locations and help woo federal funding down the line, Poort said.
Elimination of cycle paths
The budget provides $300,000 to remove bike lanes on two thoroughfares in Algiers, at the request of Council Member Freddie King.
The the council voted unanimously in September to tear up protected bike lanes on Newton Street and MacArthur Boulevard, after months of heated debate over parking, traffic and road safety.
A note detailing the changes made to the The mayor’s draft budget said Council member King has asked for $1 million for the removal of bike lanes and “a public works fund for the West Bank”, although it’s unclear exactly what this is and whether the 300,000 budgeted dollars will cover the full cost of removing bike lanes.
The mayor’s office did not respond to a question about the current status of plans create a 75-mile cycle network, taking into account the removal of the Algiers lanes.
King’s office sent a request for clarification to city manager Gilbert Montaño, who did not respond.
Strengthen short-term rental staff
As New Orleans prepares for review again the rules governing short-term rentalsthe city continues to step up its efforts to crack down on illegal listings on platforms like Airbnb.
The 2023 budget includes 11 new positions within the administration of short-term rentals. That’s on top of a big increase earlier this year, when the office went from a budgeted staff of seven to 23, according to John Lawson, the mayor’s office press secretary.
These 23 existing positions are not all filled, but the decision to expand the STR administration comes after years of allegations of lax enforcementand as the city prepares to rewrite short-term rental rules for the third time in six years.
Tammie Jackson, director of the Department of Safety and Permits — which houses the STR administration — told a budget hearing Nov. 10 that the city has made progress on enforcement in 2022.
As of Nov. 10, the department had revoked 24 STR licenses so far in 2022, down from 10 in 2021, according to a presentation by Jackson. They had also imposed fines of $261,410, up from just $33,700 the previous year.
The 2023 budget for the Short Term Rentals Administration is $1,642,502.
Inspection of rentals for health and safety
The city will now have new inspector positions dedicated to investigating health and safety issues in rental housing across the city.
When the city council adopted a simplified version of the “Healthy Houses” ordinance in early November, they listed a set of livability requirements for all rentals in city code. Standards include a working smoke detector, adequate temperature controls, and ensuring there are no signs of mold or rodent infestation.
A previous version of the ordinance would have required regular and proactive inspections of most rental units. The version adopted by the council requires that inspections only take place after problems have arisen.
Once the measure has been adopted, the council also directed the city to work on creating new full-time positions dedicated to inspecting “healthy homes” violations, saying they should be created during the budgeting process for 2023.
New positions are not defined in the mayor draft budgetreleased in October, nor listed in any budget change note which came out before Thursday’s vote.
But Lawson confirmed in an email that four new inspector positions will be created. Further action by the board will be needed in the new year to establish inspection protocols and approve budget adjustments for positions, he said, and there is no specific amount. in dollars for the jobs set in the 2023 budget.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include more information about budget items.
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