The New Orleans Saints and the State of Louisiana are in the midst of negotiations that will determine whether the Saints remain in New Orleans. Sports subsidies present communities with difficult political and financial decisions. In this report, BGR seeks to provide policymakers and the public with background information relevant to current negotiations with the Saints.
Today, BGR releases an open letter to the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The letter sets forth BGR’s concerns about a Convention Center consultant’s recent analysis of the feasibility and economic impact of a proposed 1,200-room convention hotel.
In this report, BGR provides an analytical framework for evaluating the necessity and size of a private development team’s requested public contributions to design, build and operate a 1,200-room hotel attached to the New Orleans Ernest N Morial Convention Center.
This report is the latest installment in BGR’s Candidate Q&A Election Series. The new report consolidates and reissues the responses of the newly elected City of New Orleans mayor and councilmembers who completed BGR’s surveys last fall on important issues facing City government.
For the October 14, 2017 primary elections in New Orleans, BGR provided voters with its 2017 Candidate Q&A Election Series. BGR submitted questions to all mayoral and City Council candidates on public safety, infrastructure and other important public policy issues facing the City of New Orleans government.
In Convention Center Bill Highlights Need to Rethink Local Taxation, BGR addresses a bill that would grant taxing authority to the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center’s economic development district. The release calls for a comprehensive re-evaluation of Orleans Parish taxes,
In this release, BGR examines a 2013 legislative proposal to authorize a hotel assessment in New Orleans.
In On the Ballot: November 6, 2012, BGR examines three proposed constitutional amendments, two propositions pertaining to multiple parishes in the New Orleans area, a proposed change to the City of New Orleans charter and two local tax propositions.
BGR examines charter amendments, tax propositions and state constitutional amendments on the October and November 2011 ballots.
The October 22 ballot includes a Jefferson Parish charter amendment to establish the Office of Inspector General and an Ethics and Compliance Commission,
The Bureau of Governmental Research made presentations before the New Orleans Tax Fairness Commission on February 3, 2011 and February 23, 2011.
The first presentation, Taxation in New Orleans, examines the City’s tax picture,
In this report entitled In the Private Interest: A Review of the Lake Forest Plaza TIF Proposal, BGR analyzes a tax increment financing (TIF) proposal by the owners of the former mall site to use public funds to clear up debts on the site and redevelop it.
On February 3, 2009, BGR sent a letter to Councilman Arnold Fielkow, Chairman of City Council’s Special Projects and Economic Development Committee, on the use and operation of the city’s Economic Development Fund. The letter recommends that the city abandon the current practice of directing grants to a handful of individual business ventures or nonprofit activities.
Look Before You Leap: Tax Increment Financing in Jefferson Parish provides an overview of tax increment financing (TIF) and describes four TIF districts proposed in Jefferson Parish. It also reviews the perceived benefits of TIF,
The City of New Orleans is working on a draft policy governing tax increment financing. BGR submitted comments on the February 2008 draft at the request of the City Council’s Special Development Projects and Economic Development Committee.
The Bureau of Governmental Research analyzes four proposed amendments to the State constitution and one proposed amendment to the St. Tammany Parish home rule charter. The report covers amendments that will go before voters on October 20,
In the face of mounting developer requests for subsidies, this release calls for the City of New Orleans and the Industrial Development Board of New Orleans to stop approving subsidies until they have implemented promised policies and procedures.
In Seeking Subsidies on Top of Subsidies, BGR raises concerns about requests for local property tax subsidies to housing developments that have already received subsidies through state and federal programs. The report is a follow-up to Protecting New Orleans’ Tax Base: Which PILOTs Should Fly?
In Protecting New Orleans’ Tax Base: Which PILOTs Should Fly? BGR addresses New Orleans’ system for handling property tax subsidies through the payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) mechanism. This report comes at a time when requests for such subsidies are increasing.
The New Orleans Saints and the State of Louisiana are in the midst of negotiations that will determine whether the Saints remain in New Orleans. Sports subsidies present communities with difficult political and financial decisions. In this report,
To provide citizens and government with a better understanding of their investment, BGR presents in this report an overview of economic development expenditures in New Orleans. BGR also provides a detailed summary of individual funding streams to supplement the report.
BGR studies the use of tax increment financing (TIF) in New Orleans. BGR reviews the use of TIF in general and in New Orleans in particular, and makes recommendations.
On February 2, 2002, the voters of New Orleans will consider a proposition to authorize the extension of the property tax millage for the New Orleans Business and Industrial District. The district has since been renamed the New Orleans Regional Business Park.
In this report, BGR reviews the four proposed changes in the state constitution that voters will decide on November 7, 2000. The amendments would: (1) authorize the state to establish a corporation to be the state’s principal economic development organization (Louisiana Inc.) and to exempt it from civil service;
I read with interest a recent article in The Advocate in which a group that includes Joe Jaeger is asking for large subsidies to build a 1,200-room hotel next to the Morial Convention Center, for which the Bureau of...
The Ernest N. Morial New Orleans Convention Center’s proposal to build a 1,200-room hotel on its property is drawing scrutiny from a good government watchdog group, which questions why the project is so reliant on public support in the...
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) -The Bureau of Governmental Research, a watchdog group released an open-letter it sent to the New Orleans Convention Center Thursday which raises questions about the accuracy of a consultant’s analysis for a controversial hotel project the...
A local government watchdog offered a detailed rebuttal to arguments that it’s necessary for developers of a $558 million hotel project to receive public subsidies that will total hundreds of millions of dollars. The nonpartisan Bureau of Governmental Research...
(September 13, 2018) – The Bureau of Governmental Research (BGR) releases an open letter to the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The letter sets forth BGR’s concerns about a Convention Center consultant’s recent analysis of the feasibility and economic impact of a...
Convention Center officials on Wednesday (Aug. 22) released an economic impact study that showed a proposed 1,200-room Convention Center hotel would have an estimated $282 million economic impact. The study also shows the Convention Center hotel would generate about...
Hoping to counteract mounting criticism over plans to build a publicly subsidized 1,200-room hotel, Ernest N. Morial Convention Center officials on Wednesday endorsed a consultant’s view of the project’s potential benefits, which he estimated would be worth $282 million in...
NEW ORLEANS, LA (WVUE) – Residents packed the Convention Center board meeting Wednesday (Aug. 22) to voice their opinions on a multi-million-dollar hotel project proposed for the lot next to the facility. However, proponents say the 1,200-room hotel would...
NEW ORLEANS, LA (WVUE) – Leaders from the Convention Center are set to make their case for a proposed hotel on the river. It could cost hundreds of millions of dollars in public money. The Convention center argues that...
The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center Board would really like to build a hotel attached to the Convention Center — so badly it wants taxpayers to pay for much of it. Last month, the nonpartisan Bureau of Governmental Research...
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell is voicing opposition to a proposal to build a 1,200-room hotel attached to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center that would include a $41 million contribution from the Convention Center. Cantrell’s letter comes nearly a month...
NEW ORLEANS, LA (WVUE) – Mayor Latoya Cantrell is asking the Convention Center board to “defer all action” on a controversial plan to use hundreds of millions of public dollars to fund a new hotel. The mayor’s request comes just one month...
In the opening salvo in what could become a lengthy negotiation over whether the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center moves forward with its plans to build a high-rise hotel, Mayor LaToya Cantrell has expressed “grave concerns” about the large public subsidies...
A $557 million hotel proposed for the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center needs a thorough evaluation of the project’s need and financial details before an approval vote possibly late next month, according to a report released Thursday (July 19)...
A local government watchdog group is urging officials to take a more critical look at a request for hundreds of millions of dollars worth of public subsidies for a proposed high-rise hotel adjacent to the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. The nonpartisan...
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center officials are back at the negotiating table, hoping to finally realize their dream of building a high-rise anchor hotel and, in time, a retail and entertainment complex on a vacant 47-acre tract the center purchased nearly...
Second time’s the charm. That’s what members of the New Orleans Exhibition Hall Authority hope as they return to the negotiating table with a team of developers who have proposed building a $558 million, 1,200-room Omni Hotel at an...
After years of stalled negotiations, Ernest N. Morial Convention Center officials have returned to the drawing board as they seek ways to kick-start a potentially $1.5 billion riverfront development that would include a 1,200-room hotel, retail space, restaurants and entertainment...
On December 6, 2016, Jerry Bologna (JEDCO President & CEO) and Robert Edgecombe (GCR, Inc. Urban Planner and Consultant) spoke at a BGR Breakfast Briefing in Jefferson Parish. Edgecombe presented Jefferson Parish demographic trends. Bologna followed with JEDCO’s plans...
Released in 2015, BGR’s report The $1 Billion Question: Do the Tax Dedications in New Orleans Make Sense? serves as a critical fact base for Lee Zurik’s Finding the Funds. The investigative series looks into Convention Center taxes. For BGR’s complete analysis,...
