The New Orleans City Council introduced an ordinance Wednesday (May 28) that would require local criminal justice agencies — from the Municipal and Traffic Court to the Coroner’s Office — to use the city’s accounting and contracting software when spending city funds.
But the ordinance is aimed, in particular, at Orleans Parish Sheriff Susan Hutson. More than 70% of the Orleans Parish Sheriff’s Office’s $91 million budget comes from direct city appropriations. But in spite of pressure from the council and the Office of Inspector General, which has over the past two years repeatedly said that adoption of the software would increase transparency between the city and the Sheriff’s Office, Hutson has refused to to do so.
“The purpose of this ordinance is to promote transparency and accountability,” Council President JP Morrell said. “It is jarring to me to see the lack of specificity in these [current] budget reports.”
Since the other agencies, including the Sheriff’s Office, are independent of the city, the council has limited control of their budgets and internal protocols. The ordinance, as written, would therefore only apply to purchases made with funds appropriated by the city.
The ordinance comes on the heels of a recent high-profile jailbreak from the Orleans Justice Center, which is run by the Sheriff’s Office, raising questions among council members about vulnerabilities inside the jail. At a council meeting last week, Sheriff Susan Hutson was criticized by Morrell, in particular, for her refusal to adopt the city software, which he said would have given the council transparency into the line-item expenditures of her office – and help them better address the jail’s needs.
“This is a long overdue step,” Council Vice President Helena Moreno said. “It’s a positive step – that the people of our city deserve – to ensure that every dollar that is being put into these specific agencies, that we are very well aware of how that money is being spent… And I know that with the Sheriff’s Office, we have had issues with trying to determine exactly how money is being utilized.”
Moreno said one of the benefits of having these agencies in BRASS is that the council members will not have to call on the state Legislative Auditor when they want to check on contracts and line-item expenditures.
Morrell said that moving all the agencies onto the city contract-tracking system — called BRASS — will likely be a time-consuming and difficult process, so, for now, should the resolution pass, as it is expected to, the council will prioritize moving the Criminal District Court, the District Attorney’s Office and the Sheriff’s Office onto BRASS over the next year. The remaining criminal justice agencies would have two years to make the transition.
“We do not want to overwhelm both the city and these agencies in coming into compliance,” Morrell said, adding that the District Attorney’s Office was already voluntarily participating in transitioning onto the BRASS software.
The ordinance will be discussed and voted on at a full council meeting in June.
Representatives from the Sheriff’s Office and the District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Clerk of Criminal District Court Darren Lombard declined to comment.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
