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Press Release
For
Immediate Release
05/28/2013
Civic Activist, Citizens Group File
Lawsuit Against The City of Kenner
And Mayor Mike Yenni To Stop Bond
Debt Sale
Walt Bennetti, a resident of Kenner,
individually and in his position as President of Citizens For a Better Kenner,
filed a lawsuit in the 24th JDC to stop the City of Kenner from
implementing plans to issue $47 Million in new debt through the sale of bonds.
The lawsuit names The City of Kenner,
Kenner Mayor Mike Yenni and the Kenner City Council as defendants. Mayor Yenni
proposed the debt issuance to fund beautification and aesthetic projects and
the Kenner City Council approved an ordinance by a 6-1 vote approving the debt
issuance.
The suit contends that “Approving an
ordinance which obligates tax payers to repay bonds (both refinanced debt and
new money borrowed) cannot be done by a vote of the Council. In fact, the
Kenner City Charter specifically states in Section 6.12 that all proposals for
the issuance of revenue bonds must be approved by a majority vote of the
qualified electors of the City voting in a referendum called for such purpose.”
“The Council and Yenni have violated
our Kenner City Charter by failing to bring this matter to a vote of qualified
electors, opting instead to borrow millions of dollars that the tax payers will
ultimately have to pay back without giving us a voice in the decision as the
Charter obligates them to do.”
At Kenner City Council meetings and
at the State Bond Commission meeting that also voted on the debt issuance,
Bennetti repeatedly asserted that the people of Kenner had the right to
determine whether or not debt was issued and that a voter referendum was
necessary.
“This lawsuit isn’t about Mayor
Yenni’s 2030 Plan, beautification or Kenner not moving forward,” Bennetti said.
“This lawsuit is about preserving the people’s voice and their Charter-mandated
right to inclusion in the process.”
“The Charter gives the people of Kenner
the right to a voter referendum to decide whether or not they want to issue new
debt and hamstring Kenner’s finances, future Mayors and Councilmembers for the
next 20 years. Mayor Yenni and a handful of elected officials are not entitled
to take that right away from the people.”
“The repayment of these bonds will
tie-up millions of tax dollars and cost taxpayers over $17 Million in interest
alone. Those dollars could be used for Police and Fire Protection,
infrastructure or other projects that Kenner residents might deem more vital
than beautification and interest payments.”
“In addition, the City and Mayor
Yenni have not exhausted every available funding source before attempting to
issue more debt. There are other options available besides attempting to double
property taxes or increasing the city’s debt by 34%.”
The lawsuit requests that
injunctions, both preliminary and permanent, are issued ordering the defendants
to cease and desist in their efforts to enforce City of Kenner Ordinance Number
10.572 which approved the debt issuance and seeks to invalidate that ordinance.
The suit also asks that, before the Council approves a new ordinance
authorizing the issuance of debt, that a voter referendum occur.
