Town of Jonesboro

BATON ROUGE – The books and records of the Town of Jonesboro could not be audited for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2012, because of inadequacies in the town’s accounting records, according to an audit report released Monday by Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera.

The audit was performed by the independent certified public accounting firm of Jonald J. Walker III, CPA, LLC, of Lake Charles. Mr. Walker’s firm was unable to form an opinion on the town’s financial statements because the town’s personnel failed to maintain adequate records of the town’s financial transactions.

This is the fifth consecutive year in which the independent CPA firm hired by the town was unable to audit the town’s financial statements, resulting in a disclaimer of the auditor’s opinion. The Louisiana Legislative Auditor considers an agency that submits an audit report with a disclaimer of opinion to be in violation of the state’s audit law.

Town officials said they are taking steps to address the 19 findings cited in the report.

A fiscal administrator was appointed in 2012 to monitor the town’s expenditures but resigned from the position after a few months on the job. The 2^nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office has filed charges against the mayor and trial is scheduled for August of this year.

The audit report said that the town may have violated its own ordinances and state law by continuing to pay Mayor Leslie Thompson $70,000 a year. A state district court ruled the mayor should be paid $38,000 a year based on a 2000 ordinance, but the town has continued to pay Thompson the higher salary.

The audit report also said that Jonesboro officials:

• paid health insurance premiums for ineligible and retired employees,
• paid the retirement contributions for ineligible employees who work less than 35 hours per week,
• failed to collect all court fines, causing Jonesboro to lose an estimated $33,381 of revenue, and
• did not collect almost $3,000 in unused travel advances from Mayor Thompson until 189 days after the mayor received the advance. Records of the trip do not indicate that the trip had a public purpose. This may have resulted in an illegal loan to the mayor, which is prohibited by the state Constitution.