The Moreno Administration announced on April 28 a proposed deal that would provide the City of New Orleans with more than $100 million in net cash from the sale of future lease revenue. The move is intended to help stabilize city finances and address longstanding budget issues.
City officials say the proposal is an important step in strengthening New Orleans’ financial position. The plan involves selling nine years of future rent payments from Caesars to a financial institution, resulting in an immediate inflow of funds without additional costs for taxpayers. The arrangement does not affect the remaining 32 years of the Caesars lease, ensuring future administrations can still benefit from this revenue source.
“Our team continues to work urgently to stabilize the city’s finances and deliver dependable basic services. This deal is more evidence of our team’s relentless work to solve these issues creatively and sustainably,” said Mayor Helena Moreno. “At no cost to the people of New Orleans, this deal doesn’t just help us right our fiscal ship, it also allows us to focus our resources on real, substantive improvements to our services and infrastructure – and brings us closer to solving the budget crisis we inherited than ever before.”
Chief Administrative Officer Joe Giarrusso said, “This deal is a key part of our plan to rebuild our fund balance and improve our cases to both national rating agencies and the state bond commission that New Orleans is finally on the right fiscal track. We know we need to think creatively to rebuild confidence in the city’s finances moving forward to decrease our lending costs and deliver key capital projects through bonded indebtedness. This new cash clearly signals the fruits of our efforts to stabilize our finances and build a stronger long-term balance sheet to stakeholders here and afar.” Louisiana Legislative Auditor Mike Waguespack added, “The sale of future rental payments represents a significant opportunity for the City of New Orleans to strengthen its fiscal position immediately. By converting this asset into approximately $100 million in available cash, the City can enhance liquidity, reduce reliance on debt, and position itself for more sustainable financial management going forward… Hopefully, rating agencies see this as a prudent asset management decision as our team continues working with the City in achieving its long-term fiscal responsibility goals.”
Annie McBride, CEO of New Orleans Building Corporation (NOBC), said NOBC worked closely with legal and financial advisors “to formulate an attractive opportunity that both highly protected interests…and brought many bidders.” She added that NOBC aims for strong results as it moves toward closing.
Other revenues related specifically to Caesars—such as casino support funds—will not be included in this agreement but will remain available for their intended purposes. An ordinance finalizing this proposal has been filed by all seven Councilmembers; it will be considered at a full Council meeting scheduled for May 7.
