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By Carie Cleland

SPECIAL TO THE DAILY NEWS

A Legislative Fiscal Review Committee met on Wednesday, January 29, to discuss the city of Bogalusa’s finances and the city’s need for a fiscal administrator. City Council President Gloria Cates and Councilman Mark Irvine were in attendance to speak on behalf of the council’s efforts to appoint a fiscal administrator. Upon approval by a judge, Robert Nelson was appointed to be the fiscal administrator for Bogalusa. Mr. Nielson previously worked as an auditor for Bogalusa for twenty years. 

Judy Detwiller with the Legislative Auditors Office has been working with the city for several months to help Bogalusa get their finances together, and she is “seeing a picture that is not great.” Bogalusa does not have sufficient revenue to meet its current expenditures. This indicates that the city has a declining cash balance, which indicates a general declining health of the city. 

Prior to their decision, the Committee heard from their staff regarding the cities problems which include:

• Past due payables of about $2 million
• Declining cash balances
• Past due payroll taxes of about $1.2 Million to the IRS and about $273,000 to the Louisiana Department of Revenue
• Compliance problems with the Department of Environmental Quality
• Past due payments of $263,000 to risk management for liability/workers compensation insurance
• Past due vendor bills of $600,000
• Inappropriate transfer of funds from one account to another
• Water bond that is not funded as it should be
• Past due payments to Fire Fighters Retirement System of about $116,000
• Delinquent audit reports for 2022 and 2023, with the city being on the non-compliance list

Robert Nielson says that he has already drawn up a proposed budget for 2025. His budget will focus on payroll, which can account for eighty percent of any city’s budget. Mr. Nielson believes that he can reduce the city’s payroll by $1 million and that his firm can help get the city’s finances back on track since his office is familiar with the city’s accounting system. The mayor or any of his staff did not appear to be present for the meeting.