re: What does LA do with its tax revenue?

They fix the roads, duh.

They have a lot of government employees both past and present. LA spends a lot on retirement and benefits for those employees. I can't even imagine the amount of money wasted in the Dept. of Education building alone in Baton Rouge, with each parish having their own school board and administration. When I used to go to downtown BR for work, I used to see loads of workers from that building, just loitering around.

In most states property taxes are collected locally and spent locally. That could be part of why you see a better accounting of them.

From the salaries I've seen lately, I think most of the money goes to pay the salaries and pension of the NOLA S&WB members to do absolutely nothing.