NEW ORLEANS — On day 2 of budget hearings, a presentation about the City of New Orleans’ spending deficit was derailed by more than an hour of back-and-forth between council members and representatives from the Mayor’s Office.

“Your spending debt is going to be about 160 million,” he said, “so you spent more than what you collected by 160 million. That’s what we anticipate for this year.”

Waguespack recommended that council members and the Mayor’s Office, which oversees the Department of Finance, review the City’s spending on a monthly basis in the future.

That is when the blame began. For more than an hour, council members and representatives from the Chief Administrative and Finance Offices traded accusations about who was responsible for a lack of communication during past fiscal yea

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