By Ariella Cohen, The Lens staff writer |
In a city confronting an ever-rising homicide count and profound infrastructural and economic challenges, one place remains relatively calm: City Hall.
With a noticeable absence of strife or dissent, the City Council voted today to unanimously approve a $497 million general operating budget for 2012 that looks remarkably similar in substance and detail to the budget proposed by Mayor Mitch Landrieu in October. The budget reduces spending in nearly all departments excluding the Coroner’s Office, the Fire Department and the New Orleans Police Department, which received a 9 percent budget increase to $119 million from $109 million in 2011. Landrieu has maintained throughout the budget process that improving public safety and lowering the city’s notoriously high homicide rate are his top priorities.
