In The News › Infrastructure

In an October report, the Bureau of Governmental Research, a nonprofit policy research organization in New Orleans, recommended removing elected officials from the board and giving the board authority to increase water and sewerage rates by an indexed amount annually, citing that local politics have long interfered with needed rate increases.

The task force’s recommendation to renew the tolls is at odds with a report released in April by the non-profit Bureau of Governmental Research, which said the tolls should be allowed to expire because just 19 cents of every toll dollar goes toward bridge maintenance and policing.

Lawmakers also should consider the Bureau of Governmental Research report from last year, which pointed out the basic unfairness of the tolls that are now collected on east-bank-bound drivers.

The beleaguered Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans needs the power to increase water and sewerage rates annually and fewer politicians controlling its activity in order to aptly tackle billions of dollars in city infrastructure improvements, according to a report the Bureau of Governmental Research released today.

The Bureau of Governmental Research released a study in April saying that the tolls should be allowed to lapse because too much toll revenue is being spent on “far-flung services,” such as the ferries.

The Bureau of Governmental Research released a study in April saying bridge tolls should be allowed to expire because only 19 percent of toll revenue goes to policing and maintaining the bridge. The report said much of the rest is spent on “far-flung” services, including the ferries, which consume 32 percent of toll revenue.

In a recent letter to the editor on the Crescent City Connection, Transport for NOLA stated that BGR and others had raised concerns “about the efficacy of independent bridge and ferry operations and maintenance, which they argue are better left to the state Department of Transportation and Development.”

I would like to clarify a few points.

Bridge tolls are due to expire at the end of 2012, and audits that have found questionable spending as well as a report by the Bureau of Governmental Research, make a strong case for allowing that to happen. Crescent City Connection users have been paying for lots of things that have little or no benefit to them, and that’s unfair.

Noting that 32 percent of toll revenue goes to the three Mississippi River ferries, the nonprofit Bureau of Governmental Research issued a report recently saying the tolls should be allowed to expire because they are paying for too many services unrelated to bridge operations.

The Bureau of Governmental Research, a New Orleans-based policy institute, has determined that only 19 percent of all toll revenues actually go towards policing and maintenance of the bridge. The remainder is allocated to unrelated expenditures, such as the three Mississippi river ferries which use 32 percent of the CCC’s toll revenue. Additionally, an audit last year by Steve Theriot, the state’s legislative auditor, found that the CCCD has managed to deplete half of a $61 million dollar reserve fund.

Last week, the Bureau of Governmental Research (BGR) issued a report saying lawmakers should let the tolls expire at the end of 2012. BGR found that only 19 percent of the toll funds collected were used to maintain and police the bridge.

But the watchdog group, Bureau of Governmental Research, BGR, has a new report out that argues the tolls should be allowed to expire.

The study also shows that only a fraction of each dollar a driver pays to cross the bridge actually goes to the bridge itself so Dennis sits down with CEO of BGR, Janet Howard to talk about the findings of the study on the tolls and the Crescent City Connection bridge, itself.

Crescent City Connection tolls will expire at the end of 2012 unless the Legislature renews them, but a Bureau of Governmental Research report on bridge finances should be required reading for lawmakers. That report, along with audits that have found instances of questionable spending, make it clear that Crescent City Connection users have been paying for a lot of things of little or no benefit to them.

The Legislature ultimately will decide whether the tolls will stay in place or be removed. In making the decision, they should take a good look at a study the Bureau of Governmental Research released this week that analyzes how money collected from tolls is spent.

The disclosures come a day after the Bureau of Governmental Research released a study saying bridge tolls should be allowed to expire because only 19 percent of toll revenue goes to policing and maintaining the bridge. The report said much of the rest is spent on “far-flung” services, including three Mississippi River ferries that consume 32 percent of toll revenue.

A report issued Tuesday by the Bureau of Governmental Research recommended the tolls on the Crescent City Connection not be extended past the end of 2012, because almost a third of the toll revenue subsidizes three ferry services across the river.

The Bureau of Governmental Research, in a report released Tuesday, said the Crescent City Connection is the only Mississippi River bridge in Louisiana that tolls its users. The organization adds that only a small portion of toll revenue goes to the operation and maintenance of the bridge, and that the cost of collecting the tolls is disproportionate to the revenue generated.

Just 19 cents of every toll dollar collected on the Crescent City Connection goes toward policing and maintaining the bridge, according to a Bureau of Governmental Research report that says the tolls are improperly being spent on “far-flung” services and should be allowed to expire at the end of 2012.

The findings of those state-requested audits come on the heels of a separate independent report, released by the Bureau of Governmental Research. It concluded the Crescent City Connection tolls should be allowed to expire at the end of 2012 because a large portion of the toll money is being used on things other than the bridge.

A new report by the Bureau of Governmental Research recommends state lawmakers allow the tolls on the Crescent City Connection to expire at the end of next year, agreeing with critics who say the tolls paid by CCC motorists should not fund other transportation projects.

The proposition would renew the current 2.91 mills and increase the millage rate by a scant 0.59 mills — to a total rate of 3.5 mills. While renewal of the tax would produce a marginal property tax increase — literally pennies a day for a typical homeowner — failure to renew the measure would leave the Department of Juvenile Services without a dedicated funding source. The nonpartisan Bureau of Governmental Research (BGR), which supports this measure, noted that without it the department’s work would “fall to a thinly funded state office.”

Renewing the millage will translate to an upswing in tax bills for property owners. Over the years, the Parish Council has rolled the tax back from 5 mills to 3.6 mills. Approval Saturday would return the tax to 5 mills. The Bureau of Governmental Research estimates that the owner-occupants of a house valued at $150,000 would pay $10 more a year and a house at $250,000 would pay $24 more.

Connick says the Bureau of Governmental Research has agreed to study the toll extension issue and issue a report in time for the regular session of the legislature, which begins in March.

The group’s findings will be considered with similar reviews by the Bureau of Governmental Research and local chambers of commerce, Landrieu said.

After extensively studying the city’s infrastructure needs, the Bureau of Governmental Research identified sewerage and water systems as the most critical.

The Bureau of Governmental Research has extensively studied the city’s infrastructure needs and identified the sewerage and water system as one of the most critical in past reports.

“That you would end up with a major blight problem was absolutely predictable,” said Janet R. Howard, executive director of the Bureau of Governmental Research, a nonprofit advisory group here. “You come to a point where you have to get beyond the political question to the actual question.”

Experts cautioned that, even with billions of dollars in aid expected to flow to the city, New Orleans wouldn’t get enough to properly rebuild every section of town — or to keep rebuilt facilities in good shape.

“Unless the city’s plan addresses the mismatch between the city’s footprint and its population by initially directing development into more compact areas, the outcome will be random, scattered development in a sea of blight,” the nonprofit Bureau of Governmental Research wrote in December 2005.

The Bureau of Governmental Research has put out a new report addressing the infrastructure needs of the city of New Orleans and recommendations for how to budget for improvements that need to be made. Dennis sits down with Janet Howard, the CEO of the Bureau of Governmental Research, to discuss the findings.

New Orleans, at age 292, has far more creaky infrastructure than any agency can afford to fix, according to a new report from the Bureau of Governmental Research. “The Price of Civilization” defines the problem in detail, although researchers say their tally of capital needs is not complete.

A new study by the independent Bureau of Governmental Research suggests there are “startling gaps” in the city’s ability to prevent the type of flooding seen in parts of New Orleans, Wednesday morning.

A report released Wednesday from the Bureau of Governmental Research indicated that the city needs billions to upgrade its badly impaired infrastructure.

While much attention has been paid recently to a projected $67.5 million shortfall in New Orleans’ 2010 operating budget, the Bureau of Governmental Research has been focusing on a shortfall of billions of dollars in the city’s ability to address its infrastructure needs.

The Bureau of Governmental Research in 2008 called on City Hall to adopt such a program to cure what the watchdog agency saw as three critical problems: “the unsophisticated, and at times ad hoc, process for managing street work; inadequate coordination with utilities, particularly the Sewerage & Water Board, (in planning construction); and the city’s utter failure to invest in preventive maintenance and rehabilitation.”

The nonprofit Bureau of Governmental Research today threw its support behind two Jefferson Parish transit taxes up for renewal by voters, saying that “serious cuts in service” will result if they are not renewed.

The city of New Orleans spends about $3 million every year fixing our streets, and in Baton Rouge they spend in the neighborhood of $26 million.

Virtually everyone living in New Orleans would agree its suffering streets are a major detriment to a
first-rate quality of life in the city. Understanding that is easy.

New Orleans City Council members spent more than an hour Thursday grilling Nagin administration officials about the city’s crime camera program, questioning whether the millions spent on the cameras were properly authorized and whether they have produced meaningful results.

New Orleans spends far too little money on maintaining its notoriously bad streets, but the city can do a better job even with its limited resources, a private, nonpartisan research organization said Tuesday.