New Orleans collected $1,500 -- not $1 million -- in short-term rental fines levied over two years

At a March 4 City Council committee meeting, Department of Safety & Permits Director Tammie Jackson gave a presentation on the city’s enforcement of local short term rental laws.

“The grand total of fines paid between January 2019 to January 2021 is nearly $1,000,000,” the presentation said.

However, records obtained by The Lens show that the city only levied about $68,000 in fines related to short-term rental enforcement from January 2019 through January 2021. Of that $68,000, the city has only collected $1,500, according to the records and an online database of code enforcement actions. It is possible that additional short-term rental fines were collected over that period from fines levied prior to 2019.

A spokeswoman for Mayor LaToya Cantrell, LaTonya Norton, told The Lens that the $1 million figure cited by Jackson “was inclusive of all adjudications not just short term rental cases.” Norton did not respond when asked why fines went uncollected.

Read more: https://thelensnola.org/2021/04/21/city-collected-1500-not-1-million-in-short-term-rental-fines-levied-over-two-years/