Basile Housing Authority

The Basile Housing Authority failed to deposit $4,600 which may have wound up in the possession of the agency’s assistant director, according to an audit report released Monday by Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera’s office.

The report, prepared by Richard C. Urban, a certified public accountant in Opelousas, said that the misappropriation occurred in the fiscal year ending December 31, 2012 and “continued into 2013,” although some of the missing funds have been repaid.

According to the report, the authority would issue receipts to tenants for payments, and based on the copies of the receipts issued, “these missing funds were traced to the assistant director who was responsible for preparing the rental registers.” The audit report said that several of the registers “were altered in an effort to conceal the missing funds.”

Urban’s report recommended that the matter be referred to the police and district attorney’s offices for investigation and “an analysis of the funds still missing through the date of this report should be conducted.”

The report, prepared by Urban for the state auditor’s office, said both the chairman of the Basile Housing Authority and its executive director were told of the alleged theft. The report said the two officials “would like to give the person responsible the opportunity to pay back the missing funds.”

It said although the assistant director, who was not named, denied taking money, she agreed to sign a promissory note for the full amount missing in exchange for keeping her job.

The report said she must repay all of the funds by June 30, 2014, although the authority’s board has yet to meet to discuss the issue.

A second finding in the audit report singled out the board for not updating the housing authority’s policy and procedures manual since 2005. “Board members were not aware that these existed,” the report said. The report said the authority’s chairman and executive director will bring the issue to the full board for discussion and work on updating the manual.