BATON ROUGE, La. (KLFY) — The Town of Grand Coteau has some work to do to get its accounting procedures up to basic standards, according to an audit released Monday by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office.

The independent auditor’s report, prepared by the accounting firm of Kolder, Slaven & Company, had 14 findings, seven of which were repeated from previous years.

Mayor Patrick Richard says town officials are working to fix any deficiency defined in the audit report.

“It’s an ongoing battle, especially for smaller communities and stuff with audits, said Richard. “So, it’s something that’s constantly being worked on, probably not just by us, but every municipality.”

The auditor found the town did not have adequate segregation of functions within its accounting system, did not have proper controls in place over its personnel files and did not have proper controls in place over its employee leave records.

The auditor found as well that the town failed to pay its vendors in a timely manner, which resulted in late fees and finance charges, and that hours reflected on employee pay stubs did not always match the hours recorded in the electronic timekeeping system.

The audit found the town failed to pay state withholding taxes, submit state sales taxes, file state unemployment reports and submit federal tax returns in a timely manner, which resulted in the assessment of penalties and interest charges.

Auditors found the town did not have written policies and procedures for budgeting, receipts/collections, payroll processing, contracting, credit card use, travel and expense reimbursements, ethics, debt service, capital asset management and traffic ticket safeguards.

The town also failed to reconcile its interfund receivables and payables, utility receivables, meter deposits liabilities and cash accounts in a regular and timely manner and failed to follow its policies and procedures for past-due utility accounts, including charging late fees and cutting off service.

The town failed to publish minutes for all of its public meetings within the required time period and failed to hold a meeting of its governing board at least once a month, as required by law.

The auditor found, too, that the Town failed to amend its TIF District Fund budget when total expenditures exceeded budgeted expenditures by more than 5%, failed to pay all court-specific fees in a timely manner and failed to file its audit report with the Legislative Auditor’s office on time.

In a management letter to the Town, the auditor noted the town’s gas, water and sewer funds all showed operating losses in fiscal year 2024 and recommended officials consider increasing utility rates and/or decreasing expenses.

Richard said the town will take whatever time necessary to meet every requirement stated in the audit.

“We have discrepancies every year, it’s something we constantly work on an annual basis. because when they come in, we fix whatever we can its similar to the ones we had in the past, some of them take time, it’s just something we’re going to have to constantly work on,” said Richard.

Read the full audit report below.

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