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In the Urban Conservancy’s attempts to be “fair and balanced,” we have a tendency to fix our sights firmly on issues that are important, and sometimes those issues are, well, a bummer. There are some bright spots in the political and civic landscape of the city today, and those deserve mention as much as, if not more than, some of the wrong headed practices that endanger the people and the fabric of the city.

First, we’ll take cover behind our computers as we type, and say it: property taxes should be increased, and we support the mayor’s efforts in this regard. Whenever this issue comes up, old timers and withered politicos paint the issue as an attack on the poor or middle class and political suicide for any starry-eyed dreamer who suggests it. We disagree. First off, New Orleans’ property values have risen dramatically in the last few years, with nary a change in the assessed value of homes. Second, there can be plenty of safeguards to protect those homeowners with reduced incomes, but a fair assessment is certainly in order on many properties in the city.

Our city is starved for revenue, and the property tax remains one of the least utilized streams of income. The vast majority of tax revenue for the city is supplied by sales tax, which is why so many crackpot schemes like Wal-Marts and Lowes are hatched to capture revenue lost to other parishes. On the citizen side, more and more neighborhoods are pushing for special taxing districts to pay for their own police services to augment the struggling NOPD. Fairly assessed taxes and the spending of those funds in a transparent and honest fashion is what the city needs to lift its infrastructure to the levels that improve the quality of life for residents and draw new residents and businesses. One caveat to this is that fairness in assessment should be for both individuals and businesses. This is in counterpoint to the fact that most of the candidates for governor are shouting about just how much they are itching to reduce the tax burden on business. Let’s be certain that businesses are carrying the burden at an equitable rate.

The Bureau of Governmental Research, a non-partisan watchdog group, announced this week that it had completed its review of the latest Request for Proposals (RFP) for private management of the Sewerage and Water Board. The team at BGR should be commended for having the courage to pore through the massive document, designed to be as intimidating as possible to the lay reader, a strategy which we think is a willful one on the part of the factions who are trying to push privatization through. BGR describes the results of their review as “discouraging.”

Some interesting discoveries include vastly differing penalties for various issues. For violations of procurement practices that favor disadvantaged business, the fines begin at $500,000. For violations of safety guidelines for water purity, the fines begin at $10,000. We agree that anyone doing business with the city should participate in its programs to assist local and minority owned businesses, but why isn’t the safety of the public treated just as aggressively? In addition to many unclear or vague parts of the RFP, BGR has pointed out that the procurement plan is proceeding in an unsystematic manner and requires an extensive rehabilitation to ensure that a privatization plan is fair to taxpayers and avoids many of the same problems that plagued Atlanta’s disastrous affair with privatization. Again, we’re going to ask, when will this crazy process be shelved so that the SWB can focus on the very real need to reengineer its processes in a publicly accountable and sensible fashion? While BGR does not take a stand opposing privatization per se, they have been one of the few unbiased voices on this issue and they offer an invaluable service to the city.

From both inside and outside the corridors of power, there are some encouraging signs. We need to ensure that those who represent us know that we are concerned and following the issues closely.

Filed under: Editorials