Two towns in St. Landry Parish and one in Evangeline Parish are on the Legislative Auditor’s list of “fiscally distressed municipalities.”
Basile and Washington are cited for concerns about its ongoing operations.
Melville is listed for concerns about is water infrastructure.
The Legislative Auditor’s released the list on Nov. 12.
The municipalities listed are ones that may not be able to continue providing basic services – such as law enforcement or water and sewer – to their residents in the near future, according to a news release from Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera.
In determining which municipalities would be placed on the list, the auditor analyzed each entity’s most recent financial information, as well as its financial trends compared to other municipalities. Other factors were considered as well, including:
— Whether the CPA auditing the municipality was able to determine if financial information provided by officials was complete or accurate
— Whether the CPA auditing the municipality was concerned that the municipality would be able to continue operating
— Whether the municipality had more liabilities than assets and was able to pay its bills
— Whether the Rural Water Infrastructure Committee identified the municipality as one with significant problems with its water system that could increase the risk of a public health emergency or the need for expensive repair and/or replacement of equipment
Purpera said the purpose of the list is give the public and state and local officials earlier notice of a municipality’s financial difficulties and start the fiscal rebuilding process as quickly as possible. “Our goal is to work with each municipality’s elected officials and to provide recommendations to place the municipality on a path to fiscal stability,” he said.
The list of fiscally distressed municipalities is at https://LLA.La.gov/go/FDM.
