New Orleans contractors are not getting paid in a timely manner; Lousiana Legislative Auditor and WDSU investigate.
According to WDSU News, the audit by the state was requested by Helena Moreno, the New Orleans City Council president.
The city cannot accurately determine how long it takes to pay vendors, the audit found.
The accounts payable department can delete unprocessed invoices, which limits the city’s ability to determine overall timeliness.
The contracting and purchase order delays prevent vendors from submitting invoices, which leads to payment delays.
The city also does not track the timeliness of its contract and purchase order processes.
Moreno says this process must improve as it’s slowing progress and preventing contractors from bidding on work.
“When we have an issue paying vendors, it means we have more people that do not want to serve or do business with the city of New Orleans, which then means when we put certain work out to be that only certain companies that charge us more money bud — so it’s an issue of costing a lot more,” Moreno said.
The city sent in a lengthy response to the legislative auditor’s finding, admitting to some and pointing out efforts to fix many of the problems.
ORIGINAL REPORT:
Contractors are not being paid for their work by the city of New Orleans.
That’s what one city council member claims is happening, and this elected leader says it’s causing issues with people bidding on jobs across the city.
The Cantrell administration says these allegations are off-base.
WDSU Investigates obtained the list.
On it, there are over 300 columns containing the names of dozens of businesses all owed money by the city for work that’s been completed, coming in at over $2 million.
