section_path: Government
section_name: Government
paragraph_text: Government
  
  The city of New Orleans is a political subdivision of the U.S. state of Louisiana. The city and the parish of Orleans operate as a merged city-parish government. The original city was composed of what are now the 1st through 9th wards. The city of Lafayette (including the Garden District) was added in 1852 as the 10th and 11th wards. In 1870, Jefferson City, including Faubourg Bouligny and much of the Audubon and University areas, was annexed as the 12th, 13th, and 14th wards. Algiers, on the west bank of the Mississippi, was also annexed in 1870, becoming the 15th ward.
  
  New Orleans has a mayor-council government, following a home rule charter adopted in 1954, as later amended. The city council consists of seven members, five elected from single-member districts and two members elected at-large, that is, across the city-parish. LaToya Cantrell assumed the mayor's office in 2018 as the first female mayor of the city. An ordinance in 2006 established an Office of Inspector General to review city government activities.
  
  New Orleans' government is largely centralized in the city council and mayor's office, but it maintains earlier systems from when various sections of the city managed their affairs separately. For example, New Orleans had seven elected tax assessors, each with their own staff, representing various districts of the city, rather than one centralized office. A constitutional amendment passed on November 7, 2006, consolidated the seven assessors into one in 2010.
  
  The City of New Orleans, used Archon Information Systems software and services to host multiple online tax sales. The first tax sale was held after Hurricane Katrina. The New Orleans government operates both a fire department and the New Orleans Emergency Medical Services.
  
  New Orleans is the only city in Louisiana that refuses to pay court-ordered judgments when it loses a case that were awarded to the other party. The city uses a provision in the Louisiana Constitution that prohibits the seizure of a city's property to pay a judgment when it loses a lawsuit. According to an article, "The constitution says the funds can't be seized and can only be paid out if the government appropriates the money. In other words, if the City of New Orleans doesn't budget the funds for judgments, no judge can force the city to pay." Only if the city council chooses to vote to pay a judgment can the other party be paid. Since the city cannot be forced to pay judgments unless it chooses to do so, it simply does not pay. More than $36 million in over 500 unpaid judgments issued against the city are simply ignored, some going as far back as 1996.
  
  The Orleans Parish Civil Sheriff's Office serves papers involving lawsuits, provides court security, and operates the city's correctional facilities, including Orleans Parish Prison. The sheriff's office shares legal jurisdiction with the New Orleans Police Department and provides it with backup on an as-needed basis. Before 2010, New Orleans (and all other parishes in Louisiana) had separate criminal and civil sheriff's offices, corresponding to the separate criminal and civil courts: these were merged in 2010 by Louisiana Revised Statute 33:1500. As of 2024 the sheriff is Susan Hutson, who defeated 17-year incumbent Marlin Gusman in the 2021 New Orleans City Election.