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) today announces a new initiative to ensure effective operations of the City’s Department of Safety and Permits (DSP).
This OIG initiative will foster effective DSP practices and develop methods to improve efficiency, boost accountability, and lessen the potential for corruption at this essential City agency.
Over the course of the past decade, the OIG and partnering agencies have investigated numerous instances of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement within DSP. These investigations have led to 19 arrests, indictments, and resignations of DSP employees. These continuing patterns indicate the agency is facing systemic internal failures. Though the DSP has made significant improvements through additional hiring, faster permit processes, and an outside consultant evaluation, the OIG must ensure successful operations of this critical City agency.
This new initiative will identify and mitigate these issues by assigning OIG personnel to DSP offices. Assignment of OIG personnel will allow for real-time review and assessment of DSP processes for permitting and inspection. This unprecedented move is being enacted to improve public trust following multiple OIG investigations into improper actions by DSP employees.
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.”
The Department of Property Management (DPM) is responsible for maintaining HVAC systems in all City buildings, with the exception of facilities operated by the New Orleans Public Library and the New Orleans Recreation Department. Over the past few years, there has been concern that excessive heat during the summer could negatively impact City operations. Isolated high-profile cases of HVAC failures at various public buildings heightened these concerns.
Inspector General Ed Michel stated:
“As New Orleans continues to experience extreme heat events, it is critical to the health and safety of citizens and City employees that HVAC systems in City buildings are working properly. While the OIG is encouraged the DPM has taken steps to improve operations by seeking maintenance contracts, the department must also work to mitigate damage through regular preventive maintenance.”
The purpose of this letter is to promote efficiency and effectiveness specific to the Sewerage & Water Board’s (S&WB) billing process for residential customers. The OIG found that S&WB did not accurately calculate the Sewer Volume Charge for many residential customers, resulting in overcharges on their monthly bills. The OIG recommended S&WB make immediate corrective actions, including determining the cause of the miscalculation and crediting all customer accounts impacted by the error. The OIG also recommended S&WB should conduct routine internal audits to verify customers receive accurate bills.
“The S&WB recently reported that customer accounts delinquent more than 30 days totaled approximately $109 million. In order for S&WB to collect delinquent accounts efficiently and effectively, it must first ensure that customers are billed the correct amounts for their monthly usage.”
Edward Michel, Inspector General
The New Orleans Office of Inspector General (OIG) received an anonymous complaint alleging that 12 Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (S&WB) employees were not paying their S&WB bills. OIG investigators obtained and reviewed information concerning account numbers, billing histories, hearings, disputes, and all correspondence regarding the 12 employees’ accounts for the period January 1, 2021, through April 27, 2023. OIG investigators determined four of the 12 employees were still employed by the S&WB and had delinquent account balances exceeding $500 as of July 2021. The four identified S&WB employees had outstanding account balances ranging from $1,992.64 to $4,433.07. The total outstanding account balance for the four identified employees was $13,136.11.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) provides an independent and objective assessment of government policies, programs, and operations by conducting audits, evaluations, and investigations. The purpose of this letter is to address concerns regarding overtime pay raised during an ongoing audit. It is the opinion of this office that in order to mitigate waste and promote efficiency by public entities, voluntary hours worked for a premium rate in excess of normal working hours should be excluded when calculating overtime.
It is important that government entities spend public funds in an efficient and effective manner. This includes properly following relevant laws when compensating public employees. This is especially important during Carnival season when many employees work overtime for higher rates of pay. We anticipate this guidance will help these entities properly calculate their overtime pay going forward.
For the first three quarters of 2022, the City of New Orleans Bureau of Treasury has issued 32 revised real estate tax bills for residential properties that the OIG identified as having benefited from homestead exemptions and a senior freeze reduction despite the listed homeowners being deceased. The Assessor’s Office has also removed the homestead exemptions and senior freeze reductions for these properties. According to the Bureau of Treasury, the City of New Orleans is due more than $204,555 in additional property tax revenue from these 32 properties.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) is authorized to comment on rules, regulations, policies, procedures, and transactions for the purpose of preventing fraud, waste, and abuse, or promoting efficient and effective government. This letter addresses the potential benefits of the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office (OPSO) using the City’s existing Budget, Requisition, and Accounting Services System (BRASS) as its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to replace its current, outdated ERP system.
OPSO is charged with providing for the care, custody, control and rehabilitation of inmates, as well as providing the highest level of service and security to the court systems, the execution of court mandates, and the protection of individuals’ rights and freedoms. OPSO receives significant funding from the City. As shown in Figure 1, the City provided $112 million, or approximately 73%, of OPSO’s total operating revenue over the past two budget cycles. The City appropriated $56 million of OPSO’s $76 million budgeted revenue for the year ended December 31, 2022 and $56 million of OPSO’s $77 million budgeted revenue for the year ended December 31, 2023.2
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.
