News

October 29, 2019 | From City of New Orleans

MAYOR CANTRELL ISSUES STATEMENT ON BGR REPORT ENDORSING THREE BALLOT INITIATIVES

NEW ORLEANS — Mayor LaToya Cantrell today issued the following statement on a report by the Bureau of Government Research (BGR) that endorsed three ballot initiatives designed to fund major infrastructure work through a bond sale and two tax propositions:

"Every piece of our 'Fair Share' effort has been thoroughly researched and rigorously vetted to ensure that we can generate much-needed revenue for our aging infrastructure in the most transparent and fiscally responsible way possible," said Mayor Cantrell. “On Nov. 16, there are four important items on the ballot that will help us bring home New Orleans’ ‘Fair Share’ and cross the goal line to get the funds our city needs.The BGR report recognizes and validates our approach to make the best use of our resources to move this City forward.”

All three ballot initiatives will be put before New Orleans voters in the Nov. 16 general election.

Read the report overview here. Read the report here.

The three ballot initiatives are:

• Infrastructure Bond Sale — Allows the City to issue $500 million in new capital improvement bonds to help fund improvements on roads, streets, drainage, and bridges without increasing the tax rate on the public. The bond proposition also would lower the cost of living for residents by allowing the City to create new affordable housing.
• Maintenance Fund — A 3-mill, 20-year property tax to generate $12 million annually to provide first-ever, federally supported funding to maintain City infrastructure and public facilities and to fix and purchase vehicles and equipment.
• Short-Term Rental Tax For Visitors — Requires visitors to pay the same state sales tax rate as hotel occupants so residents get their fair share in repairing aging infrastructure strained by the increased volume of visitors to the city. Most of the revenue would go to the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans and the City's Department of Public Works; a fraction of the revenue would go to tourism promotion.

A fourth proposition, establishing a Human Rights Commission as part of the Home Rule Charter, was not considered because of BGR's mission to focus on government finance issues.

# # #