It was the right thing to do or, more importantly, the necessary thing to do. 

This past Thursday evening, the Jeanerette Board of Alderman and Jeanerette Mayor Aprill Foulcard held a special executive session to decide whether they would give consent for the state of Louisiana to come in and serve as administrator of the town’s finances.

The board’s vote was unanimous as they all agreed to allow the state to take over.

The vote was a result of officials being unable to provide an audit for three consecutive years. Despite hiring different CPA firms, Jeanerette has been unable to produce an audit as the town’s finances are — simply put — a mess.

That mess revolved mainly around bank reconciliations, accounting and keeping-providing records for auditors to review. 

Louisiana law states that municipalities that do not submit an audit three straight years meet the requirement of a state takeover. That’s why in late January meeting in Baton Rouge, the Louisiana House of Representatives’ Fiscal Review Committee voted unanimously to appoint a fiscal administrator for Jeanerette. The Louisiana Attorney General’s office then filed a lawsuit.

At that time of the committee’s vote in January, Legislative Auditor Daryl Purpera said, “We have over 4,000 units of local government and quasi-public government that have to submit a report once a year, and this is the first time we’ve had a situation where we have three consecutive years where we’re not meeting the law.”

That’s not exactly the historic recognition you want for your town, and frustrations with the town’s finances and, for that matter, town’s leadership, has been expressed often by residents in public and private for a few years now — and rightfully so.

But why, and how, in the world did it come to this point? 

Did this come to pass due to incompetence or small-town politics or something far more shady? It is difficult to determine at this point until the state takes over and determines why Jeanerette has devolved into a financial disarray.

Is it embarrassing to have your financial situation so dire that you have to let the state come in and try to fix it? Absolutely.

Is it commendable the board agreed to let the state come in and attempt to fix the town’s financial issues? Of course it is. 

But even though the decision was the right one to make, it was in reality the only one aldermen could make. Hopefully this decision will ensure that the town of Jeanerette, and its residents, never have to deal with this again.

RAYMOND PARtSCH III

MANAGING EDITOR