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A MESSAGE FROM COUNCILMAN ARNIE FIELKOW

Section: Community

A MESSAGE FROM COUNCILMAN ARNIE FIELKOW
for more info, email cbrylski@aol.com
Nov. 7, 2008

Dear Fellow New Orleanians:

November 5th marked the beginning of the annual City Budget review process by the City Council. By law, the Mayor is required to submit his annual budget to the Council no later than October 31st. The Council then has until December 1st to approve a balanced budget.
Throughout November, the Council will meet in twice daily sessions, five days a week, to review each City department and agency’s 2009 budget requests. Please click here to see the latest budget hearing schedule which will be broadcast on the local public access televisions station NOA-TV.
This year, the Mayor has proposed a 10 mill increase in the millage rate. According to his statistics, the increase would cost the owner of a $250,000 business property $350 a year and the owner of a $1 million business $1,400 a year.
I have publicly taken the position that I will not support any property tax increase. I believe that our city, still recovering from Katrina and Gustav and now the global economic crisis, is too fragile to absorb a tax increase right now. In order to fulfill our fiduciary obligation to citizens, the Council will be taking a very hard look at every City department and agency to see where we can make necessary cuts in order to cover the $24 million deficit we will face when we do not approve the Mayor’s tax increase.

My 2009 Budget Priorities
Heading into our fourth year of recovery, I have identified the following priority areas:
- Criminal Justice – ensuring that the Police, District Attorney and court systems are fully funded and able to pursue proven programs and initiatives such as improved technology and evidence gathering for the NOPD, and expanded mental health and drug courts.
- Government Reform – ensuring that your city government improves its transparency, efficiency and responsiveness to its citizens through technology upgrades, better communication with the public and fairer and faster contracting and permitting processes.
- Youth and Recreation – ensuring that all recreational opportunities, including facilities and programs, for our city’s residents are clean, well-maintained, modern and responsive to the community’s needs. Our community deserves better recreational opportunities that will positively affect our crime problems.
- Economic Development – ensuring that our small businesses are supported and nourished, both financially and with technical assistance, while also continuing to retain and attract a larger corporate presence that will strengthen and diversify our local economy. The public-private partnership that I continue to strongly support, is due to be formally constituted in the first quarter of 2009. This partnership is critical to strengthening our economy and making New Orleans an attractive place to do business.
- Quality of Life – ensuring that city streets, lights and sanitation services are improved upon. Our streets must be fixed faster and lights restored in all neighborhoods.

Economic Development Fund
At the November 6 City Council meeting, the Council again took up the issue of Economic Development Fund [EDF] grants. Several weeks ago, I raised the issue of the illegalities with the 2007 and 2008 EDF grant process. Among the problems is the lack of a legally-mandated cost-benefit analysis of each application for an Economic Development Fund grant. Without this concrete information, the majority of the City Council did not feel comfortable handing out taxpayer-funded grants to the 2007 applicants. When the Administration submitted their 2007 EDF grant recommendations to the Council (10 months late) the required cost-benefit analysis was not included. On November 6, the Council passed legislation that requires the Administration to submit cost-benefit analyses of the applications within 60 days. The EDF grants are funded by your hard-earned tax dollars, and they will not be given out without following the legal guidelines.

State Emergency Shelter Summit
In late October I participated in a “Shelter Planning Summit” to address issues faced by Hurricane Gustav evacuees while staying in state-run shelters. The Louisiana Department of Social Services [DSS] hosted the meeting, and we made good progress towards refining the state emergency shelter plan. Please click here to read more.

HIV/AIDS Funding
Local HIV/AIDS service providers are currently facing very difficult times. The City of New Orleans receives federal grant funds to issue contracts and pay local HIV/AIDS service organizations to provide programs to the community. In November 2007 the National Minority AIDS Council visited New Orleans to discuss potential solutions to the contract and payment delays that local HIV/AIDS service providers were facing. I convened a Council committee meeting to hear testimony from the Mayor’s Office of Health Policy (which manages the federal grant funds) and several local HIV/AIDS service providers. The service providers testified that the city’s contracting process was too slow and hindering their ability to provide critical services. Several recommendations to improve the process were discussed, and I will be calling a follow-up meeting in January to track the progress.

Please make your voices heard during this critical budget process – tell the Council what your priorities are and where you want to see the most improvement.

In conclusion, Tuesday’s election was a historic milestone for our country. Irrespective of who you supported, I am hopeful that we can now come together as Americans to support our new President. Much work needs to be done, both domestically and internationally, and President-elect Obama and our new Congress will need all of our assistance.

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