New Orleans council wants control over these tax breaks, but public board is mounting a fight
By Joni Hess
Source: The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com
April 21, 2026
A New Orleans City Council effort to gain final say over the tax incentives a public board issues for economic development projects has peeved some of that board’s members.
The Industrial Development Board, a nonprofit public corporation charged with vetting and awarding millions of dollars in tax incentives for certain projects, should no longer do so unless the City Council signs off on those projects, the council said in a December resolution.
The resolution also said that the board should hold off on issuing any new subsidies until Mayor Helena Moreno announces her economic development plans for the next four years.
Though the resolution is an expression of the council’s opinion and lacks force of law, council members this month invited two affordable housing developers seeking payment-in-lieu-of-taxes extensions from the Industrial Development Board to petition the council. After hearing from the developers, two council members stamped a letter of approval for the board to move forward.
City Council President JP Morrell, who authored the resolution, said the move ensures the city isn’t forgoing tax revenue unnecessarily and that projects are a good city investment. He accused the board of having lax oversight of developers.
“When you’re talking about obligating the city to not collect taxes for a fixed period of time based upon past performance, I am no longer comfortable with the IDB having that sole authority without oversight,” Morrell said.
But some members of the 15-member board, which met on April 15, said the council’s request lacks clarity, and the extra required step complicates the process for developers. The board is comprised of mostly council-appointed volunteers and is one of many state-authorized entities focused on economic development.
“We’re doing our job. We’re doing our due diligence,” said Industrial Development Board member Mindy Brickman. “The developers come and present, and we have all of this paperwork, and then the council, who is completely disconnected from what we’re doing, is making decisions and passing judgment.”
In response to questions about economic development priorities for Mayor Helena Moreno’s administration, city spokesperson Isis Casanova said that the administration is “actively working with the council to streamline and align economic incentives, including the kind previously awarded through IDB.”
Casanova added that Moreno’s team is closely evaluating all incentive spending to “improve the city’s economic health.”
Essential tools
At issue are payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreements, or PILOTs, which allow developers to make annual payments to the city instead of paying traditional property taxes for a certain period of time. They are issued to lure projects that are considered to be a public benefit, such as affordable housing, or those that encourage new economic development.
The discounted payments means the city loses millions each year in property tax revenue, but the public benefits to the city are typically viewed as a win overall.
Developers who receive PILOTs must produce quarterly reports and other documentation in compliance with Industrial Development Board guidelines.
“PILOTS are an essential tool for economic development projects in the city, and without them we’d see a lot less investment,” said New Orleans Office of Housing and Community Development Director Jeffrey Schwartz during a council committee meeting last week.
The IDB’s most recent project, the $40 million golf-entertainment complex Five-O-Four Golf for example, has a lease agreement that requires the developer to pay $264,000 annually over 12 years. The agreement states that the public benefit is blight reduction, local job creation and millions of dollars pumped into the local economy through additional sales tax revenues.
The Industrial Development Board has been issuing those arrangements since its creation in 1973. But Morrell said he’s been trying for over a year to limit the board’s power and have it issue recommendations only. The council would then approve or deny the final deal. They also tried to introduce state legislation, but decided not to move forward after the board’s attorney said they’d follow a similar resolution should the council address the issue locally.
Morrell also said the council is more suited to weigh the costs of proposed tax incentive projects than the board, since it faces more pressure to address the city’s significant budget challenges.
Extension requests
Though there is no formal plan between the council and the Industrial Development Board for how the evaluation and approval process will move forward, two affordable housing developers nearing the end of their 15-year PILOT arrangements petitioned the council April 7 for an extension.
Developers of the Faubourg Lafitte and C.J. Peete housing developments, Moreno’s administration and the Housing Authority of New Orleans have asked the IDB for a two-year extension of those arrangements to avoid hefty property tax bills that would put the cash-strapped developments in the red.
The developments, built to replace the public housing complexes ravaged during Hurricane Katrina, offer rents for low-income residents capped well-below the market rate. HANO Executive Director Marjorianna Willman told council members that the developments need the PILOTs because of rising housing and operating costs and a decrease in competitive federal subsidies.
After hearing their case, Morrell and Willard sent the Industrial Development Board word that the extensions should move forward. But board members said it was unnecessary for the developers to have to go before the council in the first place.
“This long term solution has got to come because all this doing is adding more red tape for developers,” board Vice President Iam Tucker said. “All I hear is that we are blocking economic development in the city from moving forward.”
Board reforms
Morrell and then-Councilmember-at-large Helena Moreno in 2024 proposed reforming the board and other incentive-granting city agencies, calling for the removal of “subjectivity and politics” from the decision-making process. The proposal came after the council was sued over its vote to approve a $21.5 million Shell Oil PILOT linked to the River District project.
New Orleans Inspector General Ed Michel released a report that same year that found the board lacked formal policies, procedures, and selection criteria for awarding PILOT grants.
Good government group The Bureau of Governmental Research, in a 2024 letter to Morrell and Moreno, also rehashed some of the recommendations they laid out for the Industrial Development Board almost two decades earlier, in response to PILOTs and other tax incentive programs that were tapped heavily to help rebuild after Hurricane Katrina.
BGR flagged inadequate information and financial analysis in PILOT evaluations as well as a lack of standards for awarding them. The board adhered to many important changes in response, BGR acknowledged, although some gaps in reporting and documentation remained, such as aligning PILOT projects with the city’s economic development priorities.
The council’s December request references BGR’s recommendation as it asks the board to hold off on new project approvals until Moreno makes clear her goals.
The mayor said on the campaign trail that she would focus on ensuring reliable basic city services and reducing crime in the city to encourage economic development. She has also floated expanding the responsibilities of the New Orleans Building Corp., another public benefit corporation that manages Union Passenger Terminal and the Saenger Theatre among other sites.
Casanova did not elaborate this week on priorities, but Moreno has worked in recent months to ensure more streetlights are repaired and that construction projects move more efficiently, among other efforts.
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