Posted on 10/29/2009 6:10:39 AM PDT by rrstar96
New Orleans not only faces a $68 million budget shortfall for 2010. City government is running more than $30 million in the red this year, due in large part to a sharp drop in sales tax revenue, officials said Wednesday.
Earlier optimistic assessments that huge post-Katrina investments in New Orleans would insulate the city from the worst effects of a national recession have proved wrong, city economist Jerome Lomba told the city's Revenue Estimating Conference.
City sales tax revenue for 2009, projected last fall to total $157 million, is now expected to fall $23 million short of that amount, in part because of a 33 percent shortfall in hotel tax revenue.
As a result of that and other factors, the city is running $30.6 million in the red this year, despite spending $10 million in federal loan money that was supposed to be saved for next year. The city expects to end the year with only $11 million in the bank, compared with $43 million at the end of 2008.
(Excerpt) Read more at nola.com ...
Pelican State ping
Well, don't worry -- the recession is over, the economy is growing, and everyone is out buying yachts.
Where did the billions of dollars go that went to NO after Katrina?
Of course, building an economy based on tourism is the same as trying to rebuild the country on debt - there is no foundation.
It is past time to let the gulf retake that city.
Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show (Large Yachts) starts today.... great timing.
When your economy is based on people throwing small change into guitar cases in the streets, I guess it is hard to make a go of it. Especially when every few years massive storms ravage the homes you stupidly built in a floodplane below sea level.
The current sales tax in New Orleans is 9%, which is divided into 4% state and 5% parish.
See the tag line.
Well, at least it’s a CHOCOLATE CITY.
47% of New Orleans residents cannot read or write. FEMA help was delayed/hindered after hurricane Katrina because many couldn't fill out the simple government paper-work required to receive relief.
And what about the levees? Have they been rebuilding the levees? Have they been rebuilding flooded neighborhoods? I heard that uncertainties about the levees and inability to buy insurance there is hampering rebuilding New Orleans.
Well, at least Obama visited there to give people a pep talk.
Even if you are a good liberal and blame all of New Orleans devastation on Bush, don’t you have to be critical of lack of action by Obama as regards New Orleans? Didn’t the Democrats want to see more billions in “investment” in New Orleans?
You bring up an important point, namely, that much of New Orleans is below sea level. I don’t know that New Orleans can withstand a direct hit from a category 4 or 5 hurricane, even if the levees were fully reinforced.
I saw a story recently, that didn’t get into the MSM, that New Orleans and Louisiana received billions in federal money over the years to work on those levees, but that somehow the money didn’t go to levee work.
Add the "Service Economy" to that mix.
I guess nothing is "shovel ready" down there.
The Louisiana Democrat governor and her cronies delayed FEMA aid by stalling several days before asking for it, a legal requirement. They were arguing with the feds over who would control the money. They wanted their grubby hands on it so they could steal as much as possible.
After that they placed all the blame on Bush and hammered him mercilessly day after day. That was all for political purposes to help elect Democrats. Now that the election is over no one in government or the media care a whit about New Orleans.
Another fine example of the point of diminishing returns when it comes to raising taxes. At some point, the people who pay the taxes will simply... go on strike. Take pay cuts (but take home the same amount!). Move to areas with lower taxes. So...
Who is John Galt?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.