The Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s office has added to its website a list of 18 “fiscally distressed municipalities” that may not be able to continue providing basic services—such as law enforcement or water and sewer—to its residents in the near future.
In a prepared statement, Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera says the purpose of the list is to give the public as well as 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,” says Purpera, who developed the list after analyzing each entity’s most recent financial information, as well as its financial trends compared to other municipalities.
According to his report, Louisiana cities on the verge of bankruptcy (and reasons why) include:
- Town of Melville (fiscal review monitoring; Rural Water Infrastructure Committee concerns)
- Town of Clinton (fiscal review committee is monitoring)
- Town of LeCompte (auditor couldn’t issue an opinion for the most recent year)
- Town of Ball (auditor couldn’t issue an opinion for the most recent year)
- Town of Jonesboro (auditor couldn’t issue an opinion for the most recent year)
- Town of Washington (auditor issued a concern regarding ongoing operations about whether it can continue as a going concern)
- City of Grambling (auditor issued a concern regarding ongoing operations about whether it can continue as a going concern)
- Village of Epps (auditor issued a concern regarding ongoing operations about whether it can continue as a going concern)
- City of Tallulah (auditor issued a concern regarding ongoing operations about whether it can continue as a going concern)
- Town of Basile (auditor issued a concern regarding ongoing operations about whether it can continue as a going concern)
- Town of Lake Providence (auditor issued a concern regarding ongoing operations about whether it can continue as a going concern)
- Town of Newellton (auditor issued a concern regarding ongoing operations about whether it can continue as a going concern)
- Town of Baldwin (auditor issued a concern regarding ongoing operations about whether it can continue as a going concern and Rural Water infrastructure Committee concerns)
- Town of Winnsboro (latest financial statements indicate a negative fund balance — deficit)
- Village of Waterproof (latest financial statements indicate a negative fund balance — deficit)
- Town of Vidalia (latest financial statements indicate a negative fund balance — deficit)
- Town of Tullos (Rural Water infrastructure Committee concerns)
- Village of Powhatan (Rural Water infrastructure Committee concerns)
It’s worth noting the above list is different from the auditor’s noncompliance list, which includes local governments that have not submitted a required financial report to the auditor’s office by the statutory deadline or that received a disclaimer rather than an audit opinion.
