Landrieu reforms budget process
Mayor Mitch Landrieu issued an executive order yesterday in City Council chambers to create a more “transparent and accountable process” for producing the annual budget.
Responding to criticisms of the previous administration’s budgeting process, Landrieu promised to obtain community input in determining budget priorities, and to provide more informative descriptions of revenue sources and the purpose of expenditures.
The commitment to a more robust “budgeting-for-outcomes” process is one more in a growing list of reforms to increase transparency and accountability in New Orleans — reforms that are consistent with NolaStat policy recommendations being shepherded into City Hall by the new Chief Administration Officer Andy Kopplin.
Chief Administrative Officer Andy Kopplin said the new City Hall regime “looks forward to implementing a more rigorous, more citizen-driven process” that strives to “cut waste wisely and to invest in programs that deliver results.”
Another reform act that occurred in yesterday’s City Council meeting was the passage of a new ordinance to improve transparency in the contracting process.
The new “subcontractor” ordinance requires every company doing business with the City to reveal all contractors and subcontractors through a sworn affidavit as a standard component of all city contracts. Failure to comply with the new law will result in the City suspending payment to any company that does not provide this information.
Subcontracting has historically been a way for corruption to work its way into City Hall. Knowing who’s getting paid as a sub through prime contractors will help to reduce the influence of money in contracting decisions.
Related: Tulane Public Law Center Director David Marcello calls for real reform in the procurement of professional service contracts in a recent Times-Picayune opinion.
