More than three months after a Louisiana Legislative Audit report determined that the East Baton Rouge Parish Council on Aging used public funds to campaign for a dedicated 2.25-mill tax in 2016 in an apparent violation of state and federal campaign finance laws, District Attorney Hillar Moore says his office has not yet decided whether to prosecute the matter or if charges are even warranted.
Moore says attorneys from his staff met earlier this summer with representatives from the Legislative Auditor’s office to discuss the audit report. While that report, released in early May, does not suggest any criminal laws were broken, it points to multiple instances in which the COA appeared to have violated campaign finance laws—threatening its nonprofit, tax-exempt status—by using public funds and resources to campaign for the tax.
“We’re still reviewing it all,” Moore says. “Once we finish our review, do we say there is nothing criminal there? Do we need a grand jury? Do we issue subpoenas? It is still kind of early right now to say what we’re going to do.”
While the possibility of a criminal investigation hangs over the agency, the COA has spent the past few months trying to get out from the under the cloud of scandal and controversy that dogged it earlier this year. In May, the COA expanded its board of directors and adopted a stricter ethics policy and new accounting procedures.
In June, it reached a Cooperative Endeavor Agreement with the city-parish that includes several measures designed to increase transparency and accountability of the agency, which will received an estimated $8 million a year in new property tax revenue.
So far, the agency is living up to its end of the deal, COA Board President Jennifer Moisant says. Board members have undergone ethics training and board meetings are now available to view online. Also, the COA has presented the city-parish with a budget detailing how it plans to spend its newfound windfall.
The $7.8 million budget, dated June 15, includes $1.6 million in personnel costs. Of that, nearly $420,000 will go to administrative salaries, and will include tripling the number of accounting staff from three to nine.
The more than $810,000 in program salaries will enable the agency to increase home-delivered food to seniors through the popular Meals on Wheels program from five days per week to seven, adding new kitchen staff to prepare more meals and additional drivers to deliver the food. The agency also plans to hire more social workers, senior center directors and events coordinators.
The board will meet at noon Friday to review the proposed budget, among other matters. The meeting will be held at the Dumas House Residential Facility, 1313 N. Sherwood Forest Blvd.
—Stephanie Riegel
