New Orleans council approves $103M sale of Caesars leases, shores up city reserves

By Sophie Kasakove

Source: The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com

May 7, 2026

Mayor Helena Moreno’s administration can close on a $100 million deal to boost the city’s depleted reserves after the City Council approved the arrangement on Thursday.

The deal would see the city sell its rights to nine years of lease payments from the Caesar’s Casino and Hotel, and in exchange, receive $103 million this year from a private equity firm, TPG.

Council members approved the deal on the condition that the city uses the funds exclusively for emergency reserves, and that the Moreno administration report regularly on the status of the fund. The conditions came after good government nonprofit BGR suggested them, in a bid for more transparency around city spending.

Council members and City Hall officials celebrated the deal on Thursday, which is expected to close within the coming days.

“With these safeguards, I can confidently say that the sale… provides the city with an opportunity to improve its financial position without incurring debt, imposing a new tax on residents, or sacrificing vital services,” said Councilmember Lesli Harris, who chairs the council’s Budget Committee.

“This only works if the money is safe, the money is liquid and the money earns interest,” added Joe Giarrusso, Moreno’s chief administrative officer. “I want to thank the council for emphasizing the safety portion of this.”

The city’s reserves — a safeguard in case of a hurricane or other emergency — stand at just $35 million after falling from $344 million at the end of 2022, as officials drew from those funds to cover operating costs as the city faced a deficit.

The deal would raise that amount to $138 million, which is equal to the minimum that experts recommend of about 17% of the city’s annual budget.

Officials say that the cash will improve the city’s bond rating, which has been dropped by credit rating agencies in recent months because of the city’s cash flow issues and low reserves.

According to the amended ordinance approved 6-0 on Thursday, the administration will report on the fund monthly before the council’s Budget Committee and will comply with requirements under the city charter that any use of the fund balance be authorized by council ordinance.

The $103 million the city will receive is around $46 million less than the full lease amount over that nine-year period. But city officials say they hope to regain the losses through interest the reserves will accumulate.

In a report issued Monday, BGR said the deal “makes sense for building emergency reserves” but urged the council to require regular reporting and to direct the cash only to the emergency funds. Without those safeguards for the funds, “the City risks repeating the same financial mistakes that led to the crisis in the first place,” BGR wrote.

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