By: ELIZABETH WEST
Managing Editor
The City of Ville Platte’s audit for the year ending June 30, 2018, was the main topic of discussion at the city’s council meeting on Monday.
During the meeting, Vic Slaven, with Kolder, Slaven and Company, LLC, shared with the council that “on page two of the audit, you will see that the city received a clean and unmodified opinion.”
Slaven went on to say, although the city’s expenses appear to be $4 million more than your general revenues, “when you list the total general revenues, which are taxes, grants, and special items, the City of Ville Platte’s net change in the financial position for the fiscal year is only $103,000.”
According to Slaven, at the start of the fiscal year on July 1, 2018, the city had “$169,968 in the general fund that they city could use at its discretion.”
However, Slaven then went on to say, “But, a fund balance of $169,000 doesn’t do a whole lot of good when the city spends $300,000 to $400,000 on a monthly basis. You can see that it is dwindling down, so you need to be very conscious of what you spend in the future and the revenue you plan on raising.”
Slaven then addressed a topic he called “critical,” which involved the City of Ville Platte’s City Fund.
The city’s auditor said, “The fund you have a serious problem with right now is City Court.”
Slaven then continued, “The City Court fund has an unassigned deficit of $43,604, which means as a city council you need to be conscious of the fact that you are in a deficit spending position in your city court fund; and you have to come up with a plan on how you are going to cover that deficit because you cannot continue to spend money that is not there.”
The auditor then offered suggestions on how they council can insure that they are closely watching what revenues are coming in each month and how much is being spent.
Slaven said, “We recommend, which we have done in the past, that when you come to your meetings, instead of just looking over what you spent versus what you spent the month before, you get your financial information to show what you budgeted for revenues and expenses for the month and year to date, and look what at your actual records of what your revenues were and what you spent.”
During the meeting, a presentation was also made by Mayor Jennifer Vidrine to living family members of John Alfred, Sr., one of which was former Ville Platte City Councilmember, Teranza Arvie.
They mayor called Alfred’s story “one that is interesting and sad.”
According to Vidrine, in the 1800’s, Alfred “wanted to be involved in politics,” and he “wanted to run for alderman.”
However, Vidrine said, “When the Klu Klux Klan found out he was going to do that, they asked him not to and he said no. After that, they killed him by hanging and lynching him in his yard in front of all of his 14 children.”
The mayor shared that along with the plaque donated to Alfred’s family, one was made to hang in the city hall and one has been donated to the Evangeline Parish Library.
Also recognized at the meeting was Carol Fontenot, who retired from his position working for the city in 2016. The mayor presented Fontenot with a plaque to congratulate the former employee on his retirement and to say “thank you for your 18 years of service to the City of Ville Platte.”