New Orleans LA April 5 2018 More than two dozen Sewerage & Water Board employees have been using fake or unauthorized handicap tags to bilk parking meters near the utility’s main office on St. Joseph Street, according to a report drafted following an investigation by the New Orleans Office of Inspector General.

The report, sent to the city’s Department of Public Works last November, summarizes a two-day investigation probing an “allegation” that “able-bodied” utility employees had been using handicap tags to park their personal vehicles on metered spaces near the utility’s main office at 625 St. Joseph St. The handicap tags allow drivers to park up to three hours for free in downtown metered spaces, which otherwise would cost $3 per hour.

Office of Inspector General investigators ran the registrations of 40 vehicles displaying handicap tags near the St. Joseph Street main office and found 37 of those vehicles were registered to Sewerage & Water Board employees. Of those 37 employees, investigators found just 11 – less than a third – were authorized to have handicap tags, which are distributed by Louisiana State Police, according to the report.

In all, 26 Sewerage & Water Board employees parked with handicap tags that either belonged to a relative, belonged to someone else or were “invalid or unreadable.”

Additionally, investigators spotted 31 vehicles with handicap tags that also displayed parking receipts, ostensibly to cover meter fees beyond the maximum three hours of free time, but that those vehicles had receipts showing “usually a nickel” had been paid into the meter. While five cents would cover “only one minute of parking,” investigators found some of those vehicles were parked that way for entire work shifts. None were ticketed.

All together, the inspector general’s report estimated the invalid handicap tags and expired meter receipts that weren’t ticketed could cost the city around $197,000 a year in lost parking meter revenue.

The report prompted a response sent March 9 by Public Works interim director, Dani Galloway. In that letter, Galloway wrote that parking enforcement officers were assigned March 1 to canvass five blocks surrounding the Sewerage & Water Board’s main office, and on that day issued 11 citations for expired meters to vehicles that had “invalid” handicap tags.

Elaborating further, Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s press secretary, Craig Belden, said in an email Monday evening that while the streets around Sewerage & Water Board’s main office are “within the Parking Division’s regular patrol,” it took “one of our more experienced supervisors” canvassing the area on March 1 to spot the fake tags. Belden said the city plans to “include more training on spotting fake handicap placards” for parking enforcement officers.

“Being able to identify faulty or fake handicap placards comes with experience; therefore, our more experienced Parking Enforcement Officers can more easily spot them, while those starting off might not be able to,” Belden said.

The Department of Public Works, whose parking enforcement officers are charged with writing citations, has seen its ticket-writing section increase from 60 budgeted staff positions in 2011 up to 97 last year and 86 this year, according to the city’s 2018 adopted budget. The same period has also seen a jump in expected revenues from parking infractions, from slightly more than $10 million in 2011 to $15 million budgeted for last year and $14.25 million this year.

Aside from writing tickets for expired meters, Galloway said in her March 9 letter that Public Works “does not have the authority to cite for fake or faulty handicap hang-tags.” That enforcement falls to either State Police or the New Orleans Police Department, Belden clarified, given those agencies are tasked under state law with governing any misuse of special license plates or tags for mobility-impaired persons.

Galloway pledged that parking enforcement officers will be assigned to “conduct a monthly sweep” of streets around the S&WB main office on St. Joseph. She also said Public Works had requested the Sewerage & Water Board “notify and educate their employees on the proper parking protocol.”

“The Sewerage and Water Board confirmed that they have notified their employees,” Galloway wrote.

On any given day, around 300 Sewerage & Water Board employees and contractors work at the main office on St. Joseph Street, according to press secretary Zachary Hudson. Other than street parking, Hudson said employees have access to “several parking facilities” close to the main office as well as “discounted parking underneath the Crescent City Connection …”

After being told last year that an investigation was underway, Hudson said the Sewerage & Water Board sent a notice on June 30 “to remind” all employees to follow parking laws and handicap-tag restrictions. Hudson said in an email Monday evening that “we encourage our employees to follow all traffic laws,” but that it falls outside the utility’s jurisdiction to enforce those laws.

Nonetheless, Hudson said a plan is in the works to perhaps reshuffle parking for St. Joseph Street workers.

“Unrelated to the OIG’s findings, the S&WB is revisiting its parking policies to improve the available options for its employees,” Hudson said. “That work is expected to be completed later this month.”

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