The New Orleans Office of Inspector General (OIG) has released a public letter recommending the New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) begin using payroll integration software to continue preventing secondary employment violations while saving officer work hours. The letter includes findings of an OIG review of policies and procedures used by the NOPD and the Office of Police Secondary Employment (OPSE) for work outside of regular police shifts.
The New Orleans Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a report finding the Orleans Parish Communication District (OPCD) used a non-transparent process and violated its own purchasing policy when entering a $6 million contract for software intended to manage data for the New Orleans Police Department and Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office.
A PILOT is one type of economic tax incentive, which are sometimes used by local governments to encourage private development projects that stimulate economic growth in a jurisdiction.2 In most PILOT agreements a public entity such as an industrial development board takes title to property in order to issue bonds, and leases the property back to the developer during the bond repayment period. Because the owner in title is a public entity, the property is exempt from property tax during the redevelopment period.3 However, developers may submit payments to local government entities to offset property tax losses and to pay for city services.4 These payments may equal the full value of the lost property taxes, or they may be lower, effectively providing a subsidy to the developer.
Inspector General Ed Michel stated:
“Transparent policies and procedures will reduce opportunities for fraud, waste, and abuse while ensuring efficient administration of the PILOT program and good stewardship of the City’s tax dollars.”
Purpose of This Report
The purpose of this evaluation was to determine how much water the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (SWBNO) was losing through its water distribution system and what policies and practices it employed to reduce water loss. The evaluation sought to determine if the SWBNO followed best practices for water loss control and if these policies and practices were effectively implemented throughout the SWBNO system. Given the importance of the SWBNO in providing safe drinking water reliably and affordably, it is important that the SWBNO manage this critical resource efficiently and effectively.
The purpose of this follow-up was to determine whether the City implemented the corrective actions to which it agreed in June 2016 and if the deficiencies identified in the original report still existed. In 2022, the City spent more than $3.6 million to purchase and dispense more than 1.2 million gallons of fuel to vehicles operated by City departments and related entities. Given this significant investment of public resources, the City needs effective controls that ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and guard against wasteful and fraudulent use.
The New Orleans Office of the Inspector General (OIG) conducted and evaluation the City employee time and attendance reporting for the period of January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021. The purpose of the OIG’s evaluation was to determine whether the City had policies, procedures, and controls to ensure that time and attendance was reported accurately. Further, the OIG sought to determine whether the City had penalties in place for noncompliance with time and attendance policies and mechanisms to assess if the attendance of unclassified employees was sufficient to carry out duties.
To improve City employee time and attendance reporting, the OIG offered the following recommendations: The City should develop standard procedures requiring departments to reassign current employees when their ADP supervisor leaves city employment. Further, the CAO’s office should work with ADP administrators to develop queries and reports that allow HR Managers to easily identify all employees who report to a specific supervisor. The CAO’s office should adopt internal controls consistent with best practice guidelines to monitor and verify the attendance of exempt employees, especially those who are also unclassified. The CAO’s office should perform routine reviews of all City policies.
The OIG is authorized to comment on rules, regulations, policies, and transactions for the purpose of preventing fraud, waste, and abuse in order to promote effective and efficient government. As detailed in the Plaza Tower and Enforcement of the Minimum Property Maintenance Code letter released today, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) examined the Division of Code Enforcement’s efforts to mitigate the safety hazards posed by the condition of the privately-owned property located at 1001 Howard Avenue, commonly known as the Plaza Tower. The OIG did not review the City’s response to blight in general.
The OIG found that the City has not effectively used the power granted to it in the Minimum Property Maintenance Code (Code) to hold the owners of the Plaza Tower accountable for the conditions of the property. Despite the building’s obvious state of disrepair, there were no fines issued by the Division of Code Enforcement and no administrative hearings to address the conditions of the property between 2015 and 2021, when a piece of debris fell and injured a bicyclist. Instead, the City has hesitated to fine the owners of the Plaza Tower, citing the economic value of the property and the effect the fines may have on a potential sale.
The OIG examined trends in the New Orleans Police Department’s (NOPD) staffing levels, as well as the efforts the Department and other stakeholders have undertaken to improve recruitment and retention. The purpose of this review was to determine whether the NOPD’s current initiatives are effectively designed and consistent with best practices for recruitment and retention. The OIG is authorized to comment on rules, regulations, policies, and transactions for the purpose of preventing fraud, waste, and abuse in order to promote effective and efficient government.
The number of NOPD officers has decreased significantly over the last few years, to a level that raises concerns for public safety.
Due to the large number of officers separating from the NOPD, Louisiana’s Municipal Police Employees’ Retirement System (MPERS), the pension plan for police officers across the state, requires the City of New Orleans to pay $50,314.10 per month for up to 15 years, increasing to $214,112.67 per month in July 2024. If the NOPD fails to improve its staffing levels, these fines could cost the City more than $38 million over the next 15 years.
The New Orleans Firefighters’ Pension and Relief Fund (NOFFPF) provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits for local firefighters. The entity had a prior history of poor investment performance, including consistently negative overall returns for several years and the use of alternative investments such as a local golf course, films, and hedge funds. In recent years, the NOFFPF showed signs of improved financial stability and governance. However, after years of poor performance, compounded by conflict between the NOFFPF and the City of New Orleans (City) over benefit obligations, the fund remained significantly underfunded compared to other public pension plans.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the City of New Orleans (City) conducted an inspection of the Department of Public Work’s (DPW) policies and procedures for addressing pothole-related service requests submitted to the NOLA-311 service request system.
In 2016 the City published a pavement analysis which showed 65 percent of the city’s streets were in poor or very poor condition. Since then, the City has made advances that specifically include street repair via RoadworkNola, a joint effort between the Department of Public Works (DPW) and the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (S&WB). However, citizens of New Orleans continued to report a significant number of potholes each year. The City encouraged community members to report potholes by calling 3-1-1 or through the NOLA-311 system, operated by the Orleans Parish Communications District (OPCD).
This inspection looked at not only the DPW and OPCD policies surrounding the repair of potholes, but whether the City repaired potholes in a manner that was timely, efficient, and transparent to citizens.
