Transparency

From the City Council meeting today:

The New Orleans Coalition on Open Governance, of which The Lens is a member, asked the council to let the public see its proposed changes last week. Council members agreed to try, but in the end, they weren’t able to produce a budget before today. In fact, aides were making photocopies of necessary documents even as the 10 a.m. meeting began.

A last-minute attempt to gather public input before the council’s vote on the tax increase attracted a mere two residents – one of whom is a professional policy adviser who makes a living researching and opining on the city’s use of taxpayer dollars.

But while Bureau of Governmental Research director Janet Howard warned against the council’s decision to freeze the Sewerage & Water Board taxing rate, Gentilly homeowner Steve Donahue challenged the city’s right to take more money from homeowners who chose to return to the city after Hurricane Katrina. Donahue, who is disabled and lives on a fixed income, said that he is making sacrifices to pay his own bills while also “bearing the burden of supporting the city.”

“I’m watching my water, watching my energy consumption. Meanwhile, they’re fishing in a barrel, getting our money,” he said after the meeting.

The state Constitution requires that taxing authorities hold a public hearing before raising taxes to a voter-approved maximum. In this case, the city scheduled its public hearing for the same day that the council was required by the City Charter to pass the budget.

Unlike most public hearings, today’s event happened with none of the formal introductions and presentations that typically open such discussions. Instead, people signed up to speak the same way they do during regular open meetings of the council and were given three minutes.

Howard and Donohue were called up to speak as council members were busy considering a related technical amendment, but no one spoke when the council was considering the ordinance directly addressing the tax increase.

“As far as I’ve seen, there was no public hearing, not the way they usually have a public hearing,” eastern New Orleans homeowner Lorraine Washington said.