NEW ORLEANS — A new Shell Oil building project is running on empty after a $21.6 million tax break approved by the New Orleans city council may have broken the law.
A memo sent out by the city council attorney on Thursday laid out how the plan violated New Orleans law. Apparently, the plan had been carried out too quickly.
"Act 212 requires the Council to review a PILOT application for 15 days after receiving a recommendation from the Office of Economic Development," the council attorney said on Thursday. "Given that only four days elapsed between the Council's initial receipt of the PILOT application and the Council's final approval, it is my opinion that this approval likely violated the timelines in Act 212."
The attorney added that he believes the law was broken on purpose as a way to block discussions of the plan.
"The most plausible reason for this distinction, in my opinion, was to ensure these projects included adequate periods of public deliberation," Executive Council Adam Swensek said. "The legislature's decision to separately establish and define these periods must be regarded as intentional and given effect."
According to NOLA.com, Mayor Cantrell had argued in November that Shell's tax break was necessary to keep the oil company in the city.
Despite some members arguing that the plan needed further scrutiny, the tax break was approved four days later, in a 5-1 vote.
Now the city council has to decide what to do next. They could potentially vote to approve the tax break again while following the law – that is if the council chooses to agree with the city attorney that the vote had broken the law.