New Orleans, La. - The Landrieu administration is proposing a 2-percent increase in Entergy's franchise fee to fund repairs to the city's ailing system of streetlights.
The fee would ultimately be passed on to Entergy customers. An average household would pay about $2 more per month.
Tuesday afternoon, the Mayor's Office presented the plan to the New Orleans City Council Public Works Committee.
In 2013, the city is using $10 million in Disaster Community Development Block Grant money to fund streetlight repairs. "So if we don't have a sustainable source of funding, what we're doing right now is taking the Community Development Block Grant that we would otherwise spend on playgrounds, firefighters and police stations, and putting it on streetlights," said Mayor Landrieu.
Officials with the Mayor's Office say the fee adjustment would open the door for a $30 million capital improvement project to be implemented over a five-year period.
After the presentation, council members said the presentation was lacking important information.
"What I am concerned about is long range. We need to have a plan for implementing a state-of-the-art lighting system for the city of New Orleans," said Councilwoman Cynthia Hedge-Morrell. "That I don't hear us talking about."
Council members want more information before they move forward with any type of decision on the matter.
