NEW ORLEANS -- In another sign of the city's budget woes, sources tell Eyewitness News that private attorneys who hear cases involving parking and traffic camera tickets have not been paid since April.
The five hearing officers are now waiting on a new contract that is expected to cut their pay roughly in half. The hearing officers are owed at least $125,000 in back pay, the sources said.
The city is looking to save even more money by revamping a second panel of hearing officers.
City attorney Nannette Jolivette-Brown said Friday the city is replacing high-paid attorneys who adjudicate housing and environmental violations.
The city put out a notice in the recent Louisiana Bar Association newsletter asking for attorneys to handle those cases.
Jolivette-Brown says when Mayor Mitch Landrieu first took office, the city had three law firms contracted to do that work. In the past 18 months, it cost the city $270,000 to fund those contracts.
She says the response from attorneys wanting to volunteer, following the city’s request, was immediate.
“We have already begun preparing city attorneys to sit in as new hearings are scheduled and we have already gotten good response from the Bar Association,” Jolivette-Brown said. “Within the first 24 hours, we had 100 lawyers respond that they wanted to participate and volunteer their time,” she said.
The volunteer attorneys are expected to be in place by September 1.
Jolivette-Brown could not offer any comment on the attorneys who hear parking and traffic cases, saying that was an issue for Robert Mendoza, the city's director of public works. A spokesman said Mendoza was out of town and could not comment.
