City Council - public_hearing

Brandi, you got your green on too? The floor is yours.

Ed, can you pull the microphone closer to you?

Yeah, there's a disparity between the budget book and your presentation. Brandy, you might be able to explain this. On page 358, the 2026 adopted budget totals $3.9 million, but the presentation notes that it's $4.4 million. And the same for the 2027 proposed budget. The budget book is 4.2, whereas the presentation is 4.4.

Okay. This is for many of the agencies appearing today, the Ethics Review Board, Office of Independent Police Monitor.

Okay, y'all figure it out. But what number are we working with?

I mean, the good news about many of the agencies, you guys are a percentage of the general fund budget, so it is what it is. Do you have a surplus that you're running?

Okay. Well, let's stay in touch on your surplus because we might have to sweep that. Council Member Willard.

Thanks, Madam Chair. Just a couple of questions. Thank you guys for being here today. I noticed that there's $35,000 budgeted for conventions and travel. Could you touch on that? We're really trying to limit that across the city.

And then $100,000 for outside legal services. Is that in preparation to write the reports? No.

Okay. Because it looked like the last couple of years you didn't have that.

And then how do you guys decide where you go next? What departments to look into? What contracts? Services? Yeah, so... Does somebody, like, give you a lead or...

We also rely on tips that come in as well. Okay. Awesome. Well, keep up the great work. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it.

I do have one more question. I see you have in the queue a 2027 report on recycling services. Given the fact that that might be in dispute during this budget season, is there any way to expedite that report? Okay. Soon as in before budget season's over? Can we get a preliminary list? When is budget season over? November 9th? Soon. November 19th?

It will not be. Not the end of this year. Is there any way, my question is, is there any way to expedite that given the fact that we are in the middle of deciding on budget and that might be some important information to have?

Council Member Willard. Thank you, Madam Chair. Casey, thank you for coming down and walking us through all of this. I had a couple of questions just on the rent side. You presented some stuff about getting closer to market rate rents. When's the last time French Market Corporation actually adjusted rents?

What did you guys do, I guess, to mitigate with that sticker shock for the huge spikes? Was there like a phase-in plan?

Okay. And then on the slides you showed, when they had zero, that means that was an empty space?

And how do the new leases compare to other facilities in the French Quarter, other office space?

Okay, so you looked at all of that when you were setting the new rent. Yeah. Okay, that sounds good. All right, thanks, Casey. All right, thank you.

Hey, Casey, I have quite a few questions. First is, walk us through how FMC will evaluate the results of its leasing strategy. What additional rent has been actually collected to date, and how have vacancies changed, and how have the costs of tenant turnover, how are those accounted for? Okay.

Okay. And so, for the people that you're transitioning from month-to-month leases into long-term agreements, how do you promote stability there? And how do you manage those commitments to protect existing tenants and give them a fair opportunity to remain, those month-to-month tenants, as you're transitioning them into long-term rents?

Yeah, I think the concern is making sure that existing month-to-month tenants have the opportunity to compete. They do. through that rubric, is that what you're saying?

Okay, I want to turn to the Upper Pontabla renovation. What milestones support the reopening date, what costs remain, and how further delays can affect rental income and the operating budget?

So the original projection for reopening was February. We're pushing it back to late May, is that correct? Because of that subsurface work in the mechanical systems. And what costs remain for this renovation?

Alright, I'm going to turn to Crescent Park. As you know, there has been a decision to relinquish Crescent Park to the city. Who initiated that? What alternatives and authority supported it? And how have you determined whether the transfer produced the results that we wanted, which was a savings for the city?

So you can't quantify whether or not there was a savings for the city versus a shifting of expenses?

Okay. Can you walk us through your spending on professional services, including legal counsel, accounting, and auditing, and insurance? Okay. Are there any overlap with other public benefit corporations that we could sort of save by combining those services or contracts?

I appreciate that. What is your current cash position, meaning cash on hands, and do you have any bonding capacity?

You don't have any current bonds, but you have the capacity to issue bonds? Okay, what is your current cash position?

Look, we are shaking down everyone at this point for money. So I would like to see the reserves that you really need for the construction, what you really need for other issues, and how much potentially you could return to the city, because... We're in a tough spot right now.

All right. I have one more question. I know you talked about the historic tax credits. Do we have a timing on when you might receive those and how they might flow to the city?

Robin's telling me no. Okay. And are there any changes that y'all can make to increase your annual financial contribution to the city?

I think so too. You have a question, Council Member Willard? All right. Thank you all for your time. You're free to go. Thank you. Oh, wait. No, no, no. Sorry. I have several cards. Sorry, y'all. I'm trying to get out of here. Alan Sahara. Sorry. Followed by Russell Kent, I think. Kelly. Kelly.

So I'm sorry, but everyone gets two minutes so we can keep the program moving. If you want to shoot us all an email, that would be great. Thank you. Mr. Kelly?

Thank you, Mr. Kelly. That's your time. Y'all are free to go. Thank you. whenever you're ready good morning

All right. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thanks, Ms. Giselle and Ron. First question, what's going on? How's the search for the new CEO going?

And so we'll know who the next CEO is next Tuesday? Okay. I hope so. All right. A couple of questions on the budget side. So it looks like before the government assistance kicks in, you guys operate at a $21 million deficit. On the government assistance side, it looks like preventative maintenance takes up 93% of that allocation. What's the source of this funding for the preventative maintenance?

Well, Ms. Giselle, what I'm asking is where does that funding come from? It's like $23 million for 2017? Federal Transit Administration. So it's from Federal Transit? Uh-huh. That's what I was asking. So that's from the FTA, that's right. Okay. About $43 million in capital expenses for 27. How much of that is positioned to come from the city's capital budget? None. Okay. That's good. Okay. Opportunity Pass. I think the council, you know, there's overwhelming support for that. So I wanted to know if you guys have had any conversations about bringing that in-house?

Yeah, I think long term that would be a good program to incorporate under RTA's jurisdiction. So just putting it out there. I hope that the new CEO and board can start to look at that in the years to come. Yes.

Ashley? Up next is the alligator. Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Yet again. Owen. Owen, come on up. You get two minutes.

Thank you. So you are in support of RTA, is what you're saying? Oh, absolutely. OK. Thank you, Owen. And up next is the algae of development. Thank you, Ashley. Thank you, RTA.

All right, this is another organization that gets no city revenue. But please introduce yourselves.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, Ms. Kathy and Sean. It's good to see both of you. So as far as the funding goes, doesn't the Development District also get funding from the fairgrounds, from the slot machine play?

I know you did. I know you did. Okay, so what about the city money? Is that millage revenue that they get, that you guys get?

All right, that's fine. Thank y'all. Thank you. Anything else? No. I did, actually. So the lease payments that you guys get, so the development district owns that property out there and they lease it out. I mean, it just seems interesting. How did they come about owning that property out there in the West Bank? You have to know. Oh, on Federal City? Yeah, on Federal City.

So is that when the development district created it? Yes. Got it. Okay. Thank y'all.

Good morning. We're talking about our pizza. We're hungry. And salad. And salad. Are we standing between you and lunch? No, the library actually is standing between us and lunch.

Well, I just want to say thank you. You have great volunteer leadership. I consider you both my friends, and I know how smart you are and how committed you are to this project. I think it's going to be transformative once it gets up and running. You've already made great strides. The fact that we have Xavier Medical School right here in District B, all of the things that are really just amazing and emergent on Tulane Avenue, it's really exciting, and I think it is going to be transformative. As Mr. Owen, who is here, said, I think transit is going to be super important, especially connecting t

Yeah, I just want to say the opportunity in the bio district is incredible. I'm a little biased. My husband is a physician with LSU, so he teaches residents and students. And he's part of the recruiting, but this will draw recruits from across the country for all of our medical schools, all of our allied health, I mean everything. So it's really, you guys are doing a fantastic job. So keep it up, and I really look forward to seeing how things continue to grow. Council Member Willard. All right.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Good afternoon. Thank you all for coming down today. One question, then just a couple of comments. Andy, you said you're expecting $1 million from the city EDD next year. That's the TIF?

Sounds good. The National Cancer Institute designation, I mean, you know, I really hope we get there in short order. I think that would be transformative for the city of New Orleans. Last year I did a panel with Senator Cassidy on clinical trials and research and really spending by the industry toward clinical trials and Apparently, it's an issue going on at the federal level up in D.C. because a lot of clinical trial activity has moved over to Asia. And so he said a lot of his colleagues were trying to work on something to bring more of that activity. that investment here into the U.S. And so

Thank you, Emily. I appreciate you, and I appreciate the fact that you have Sam LeBlanc here, who was much needed as a facilities manager. I know that there have been repeated outages. I'm specifically going to ask about Allie Mae and the status of that branch. Where are we?

There's no issues with that branch that we're aware of. The Central City Library and the Alley May Center has been operating successfully.

Knock on wood. Knock on wood, right. I mean, that's one that continues intermittently in and out. So I appreciate that it's up and running now, but the fact is that it has been closed and it's open and it's closed again. So Sam, I know you have your eye on that. The City Archives, we've been talking about this since I've been in office, that they're sitting below sea level in a basement. Is there any opportunity to move Any of those to any of the branches, or do you want to combine them, have them in one location?

You said you're doing a feasibility study. Where are you in that process?

I mean, that sounds like a good idea, and I believe you guys have bonding capacity, and if you own that land, you know, that's potentially money there as well. Well, I was an art history major as well, so I appreciate you, Emily. Council Member McCarran, any questions? Okay, I do have one comment card from Shanon.

With that, y'all are done. Thank you for everything you do. And I rent books all the time to mitigate my time up here. Mainly trash books. All right, Ashley. All right. Thank you. Thank you. We are back at 1 o'clock for Budget Budget.