BUDGETING AND AUDITING

New Orleans Home Rule Charter art. VI, ch. 1

in effect

New Orleans Home Rule Charter, art. VI, § 6-101 Revenue Estimating Conference.

Section 6-101. - Revenue Estimating Conference. (1) The Revenue Estimating Conference shall be composed of the Mayor, who shall serve as chair, the Chief Administrative Officer, the Director of Finance, a member of the Council selected by the Council, and a faculty member of a college or university in New Orleans who has expertise in forecasting revenues or in a related field. The faculty member shall be appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Council to serve for a term concurrent with that of the Mayor and shall be subject to removal under the same procedure as provided in this Charter for removal of board members. (2) The conference shall prepare and publish initial and revised estimates of money which is to be recognized for the current and next fiscal year by the City general fund and all other City operating funds, such estimates to be based upon standards promulgated by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board and which shall be known as the "official forecast." The conference shall meet at least quarterly. The Mayor may call meetings of the conference at any time in accordance with applicable state and municipal law and shall call meetings when requested to do so by Motion of the City Council. In each estimate, the conference shall designate the money which is nonrecurring or will recur only in a limited number of years. Conference decisions to adopt these estimates shall be by a unanimous vote of its members. The most recently adopted estimate, as defined above, shall be the official forecast and shall constitute a recommendation to the Mayor and City Council of the amount of revenues to be included in the operating budget for the year for which the forecast is made.

New Orleans Home Rule Charter, art. VI, § 6-102 Preparation of the Annual Operating Budget.

Section 6-102. - Preparation of the Annual Operating Budget. (1) The Chief Administrative Officer shall annually, and not later than the first day of August, make available sufficient data relating to the current and preceding year's appropriations and expenditures for each fund to each office, department, board, the Council, pension and retirement system, trust proceeds fund, debt service fund or other entity which is receiving or seeks to receive an appropriation from the Council payable from any operating fund of the City or which expends City funds. All data required under this section shall be in a format which adheres to generally accepted accounting principles as defined by the Governmental Accounting Standards Board or any successor organization, except as provided in Section 6-103 (1). (2) Any entity which seeks an appropriation from any operating fund of the City shall submit detailed data to the Chief Administrative Officer in accordance with a schedule prescribed by the Chief Administrative Officer for compilation and recommendations for review by the Mayor prior to the Mayor's submission of the proposed budget to the City Council. (3) The Chief Administrative Officer, after consulting with the Council and the heads of offices, departments and boards, shall prepare a preliminary budget for the consideration of the Mayor. The preliminary budget shall include all budget requests and the recommendations of the Chief Administrative Officer with respect to each request, an estimate of revenues from each source, and a statement of the total estimated revenues and total recommended expenditures for each operating fund. (4) The Mayor shall review the preliminary budget and may hold either formal or informal hearings thereon, at which the heads of each office, department or board may be given an opportunity to be heard with respect to their requests. The Chief Administrative Officer shall then prepare the operating budget under the direction of the Mayor. Such budget shall set forth each item of expenditure recommended by the Mayor and estimates of revenues which will be available for expenditure. If the estimate of any revenue differs by more than three percent from the estimate of that revenue in the official forecast, information on the difference and an explanation thereof shall be submitted to the Council with the operating budget. Where the estimated revenues from existing sources are insufficient to meet the recommended expenditures, the Mayor shall provide recommendations of new sources of revenues to balance the budget. The operating budget shall be presented to the Council with a message from the Mayor outlining reasons for the requested appropriations and shall be accompanied by proposed revenue and operating budget ordinances to give effect to the budget as presented. The mere enumeration of a function, power, or activity in this Charter shall not, in and of itself, mandate that the Council appropriate specific funds with respect thereto. (5) The proposed ordinance for the operating budget shall provide lump sum appropriations under the following classes for each budget unit: (a) Personal services of officers and employees. (b) Other operating expenses. (c) Debt service. (d) Such other classes as the Mayor may annually establish. (6) The proposed ordinance for the operating budget shall authorize the transfer of all amounts authorized by the capital budget ordinance from the general fund and any special revenue funds to the capital projects funds to be financed from such transfers. (7) There shall be appended to the operating budget a statement of the transactions of each of the pension and retirement systems, expendable trust funds, and debt service funds, for the preceding year, for the current year to June thirtieth, anticipated transactions for the remainder of the current year and for the ensuing fiscal year, and a projection of anticipated revenues and expenditures of the City, including all dedicated and undedicated funds and the funds of each unattached board and commission for the next five fiscal years. (8) The operating budget and the proposed revenue and operating budget ordinances shall be submitted to the Council not later than the first day of October. Sufficient copies of the operating budget shall be supplied by the Mayor to the Clerk of Council for distribution to members of the Council and to interested citizens. (M.C.S., Ord. No. 29370, § 4, 3-9-23, eff. 1-1-24)

New Orleans Home Rule Charter, art. VI, § 6-103 Administration and Enforcement of the Operating Budget Ordinance.

Section 6-103. - Administration and Enforcement of the Operating Budget Ordinance. (1) The adoption of the operating budget ordinance shall constitute an appropriation of the sums specified therein for the purposes and from the funds indicated. Such appropriation shall be considered valid only for the year for which made, and any part of such appropriation which is not encumbered or expended shall lapse at the end of the year. (2) Following the adoption of the operating budget ordinance, the head of each office, department and board shall submit to the Chief Administrative Officer schedules showing the expenditures anticipated for each quarter of the fiscal year. (3) The approval of an expenditure schedule by the Chief Administrative Officer shall constitute a budgetary allotment which shall be binding upon such office, department or board, and the Department of Finance shall approve or issue no requisition, purchase order, voucher or check that is not in accordance with such allotment. (4) The allotments herein provided may be altered at any time by the Chief Administrative Officer upon his own initiative or at the request of the head of an office, department or board and shall be altered at the direction of the Mayor. The Mayor shall direct appropriate revisions in allotments to keep expenditures within the revenues received or anticipated. (5) The Director of Finance and his surety shall be liable for any moneys withdrawn from any operating fund other than in accordance with the operating budget ordinance and allotments.

New Orleans Home Rule Charter, art. VI, § 6-104 Preparation of the Capital Program and Capital Budget.

Section 6-104. - Preparation of the Capital Program and Capital Budget. (1) The City Planning Commission annually and not later than the fifteenth day of September shall prepare and submit to the Mayor a capital program. (2) Each office, department, board, the Council, pension and retirement system, expendable trust fund, and debt service fund or other entity annually shall present to the City Planning Commission, in accordance with a schedule prescribed by the Chief Administrative Officer, a list of all the expenditures for permanent physical improvements which it is making or believes should be made in conjunction with its work during the next five years. (a) Each list shall show the projects in process of construction or acquisition, their present status, the amounts spent or to be spent thereon to the close of the current year, the work which is required to complete each undertaking with a schedule for such completion, the amount and source of the moneys spent, and the amount and source of moneys required during each of the five succeeding years to complete each undertaking. (b) Each proposal shall contain a justification of the project, its estimated cost, method of financing, the estimated cost of annual operation and maintenance, the proposed dates of initiation and completion of the project, the financial requirements during each of the five ensuing years and the source of such moneys. (3) The Chief Administrative Officer shall furnish to the Commission a statement of the moneys likely to be available from the General Fund and special revenue funds and the amount of bonds which the Mayor believes it would be proper for the City to issue during each of the next five years. The Commission shall then prepare the capital program for the next five years, in which it shall recommend the projects to be undertaken within the period in priority order and shall state the sources of moneys to be used for each project during each year of the period. (4) Upon receipt of the capital program from the Commission, the Mayor shall prepare a message to the Council setting forth recommendations with regard thereto. The Chief Administrative Officer, under the direction of the Mayor, shall prepare a proposed capital budget ordinance for the first year covered by the capital program. Not later than the first day of October, the Mayor shall submit to the Council the capital program as prepared by the Commission, the capital budget message, and the proposed capital budget ordinance. (M.C.S., Ord. No. 29370, § 4, 3-9-23, eff. 1-1-24)

New Orleans Home Rule Charter, art. VI, § 6-105 Administration and Enforcement of the Capital Budget Ordinance.

Section 6-105. - Administration and Enforcement of the Capital Budget Ordinance. (1) The adoption of the capital budget ordinance shall constitute an appropriation of the sums specified therein for the purposes and from the funds indicated. Such appropriation shall be considered valid only for the year for which made, and any part of such appropriation which is not encumbered or expended shall lapse at the end of the year. Officers authorized to make expenditures under the capital budget ordinance may proceed without other authority from the Council to incur obligations or make expenditures for proper purposes to the extent that the moneys are available. (2) Accounting officers of the City shall be responsible for the enforcement of the capital budget ordinance to the same extent as the Director of Finance is responsible for the enforcement of the operating budget ordinance.

New Orleans Home Rule Charter, art. VI, § 6-106 Fiscal Year.

Section 6-106. - Fiscal Year. The fiscal year of the City shall be the calendar year unless changed by ordinance. If the fiscal year is modified, the time limits specified in this Chapter shall be modified by the ordinance to conform to substantially the same general time schedule as that specified herein.

New Orleans Home Rule Charter, art. VI, § 6-107 Encumbrance Defined.

Section 6-107. - Encumbrance Defined. For the purpose of this Charter, the term "encumbrance" shall mean a commitment for expenditure of an appropriation evidenced by a valid requisition properly approved.

New Orleans Home Rule Charter, art. VI, § 6-108 Independent Audit.

Section 6-108. - Independent Audit. (1) The Council shall execute an agreement with a Certified Public Accountant or firm of Certified Public Accountants for the purpose of securing an audit of the accounts of the City and may execute such an agreement for the purpose of securing an audit of the accounts of any office or public body that receives or expends City funds, including non-municipal offices and public bodies. (2) As soon as practicable and in no event later than six months after the close of the fiscal year, the accountant or accountants shall submit to the Council a report upon the transactions of the year just completed. (3) No certified public accountant selected to make the audit or any of the partners of the firm of certified public accountants selected to make the examination shall be a member, an officer, or an employee of a department, board or other agency of the City. (4) If the person or firm selected to make the audit informs the Council that any office or entity receiving or expending City funds has failed or refused to provide information or permit inspections necessary or reasonably desirable for completion of the audit, the City Council may issue and the City Attorney shall promptly seek enforcement of subpoenas to compel the requested inspection or information.

Source: City of New Orleans, Code of Ordinances and Home Rule Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/la/new_orleans/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=PAI_HORUCH_ARTVIFIADPR_CH1BUAUFetched: 10/28/2026