Schroder visits

Louisiana State Treasurer John Schroder visited Ville Platte on Thursday, March 25. Local dignitaries and politicians from around the parish were there to greet him at City Hall where he handed out several checks for unclaimed money to some of the local agencies. Schroder said there are many businesses and individuals who have unclaimed money, totaling over $900 million across the state. “There’s almost $3 million in Evangeline Parish alone,” he said.
Schroder presented the City of Ville Platte a check for $75,000 from Cleco. District Attorney Trent Brignac received a check for $1,600. The town of Mamou received $150, and the Mamou Police Department received $44.60.
Mayor Vidrine wanted citizens to understand this unclaimed money is for the city, owed to them by Cleco from in the form of a franchise payment back in 2019. The city council will decide where to use the money.
Brignac said sometimes his office ends up with money when someone pays extra. When they cannot find that person to give them their money, the accountant suggests to turn it over to the state to keep the books clean. “That way I’m not taking the constituent’s money,” said Brignac. “I tried to reach the constituent. They weren’t there to receive it, so I sent it to the state. This is the first time I received any money back.” Brignac will ask his auditor what to do with the money, but he believes it will be put in the General Fund.
Schroder has made a big push is for citizens and businesses to claim their unclaimed property. According to him, his office went from processing about 32,000 claims a year to almost 200,000 two years in a row. They went from $25 million a year to $65 and $72 million. In two years, they sent 400,000 checks.
Community activist Brian Ardoin, who is on the Rotary Club board and member of the Evangeline Chamber of Commerce, asked Schroder what prompted his office’s acceleration of returning unclaimed property. Schroder said unclaimed money goes into a pile. The government would spend whatever was not given out at the end of the year.
“We shook things up,” said Schroder. “We went from doing 30,000 claims to 200,000 claims. Guess what. Two years in a row I was out of money. I get to the end of the fiscal year and I don’t have money to pay claims. I knew I had a problem and the program was growing.” Schroder said it took his office three years to change the process, and 70% of voters voted to create a trust fund. Now, at the end of the fiscal year, whatever money is left over will be invested.
Schroder encouraged local officials to refinance their debt. “I’ve helped the state refinance its debt and saved almost $300 million over the lifetime of those bonds,” he said. “Almost every public entity from municipalities, school boards, water districts, fire districts, sewer districts should refinance their debt.”
Ville Platte councilman Bryant Riggs told Schroder he heard him talking about refinancing bonds on a radio show, saying he has been bringing up that issue to the council. He added, “When you leave Ville Platte, I apologize for the bumps and humps you’re going to hit. If you’ve got any connections to D.O.T.D., we need it.” Riggs said the city is working on the roads with grant money they received. He said the city has plans to fix all roads in Ville Platte, adding, “But we definitely need help with our infrastructure.”
Additionally, Riggs said, “This town is losing population. We don’t have the tax revenue we used to have. When we finally got things together, we realized businesses were paying the same amount of taxes as the citizens. That never should have been.”
When it comes to infrastructure, Schroder said, “We’re going to have to get creative. We are a very poor state, if you haven’t figured that out. We have more people moving out than moving in, so we created this trust fund that we’ll take the money and invest it. Then the interest will roll into the state General Fund now. Now, if we’re patient, which we’re not real patient, 15-16 years down the road, we’ll be putting more money in the state General Fund than they were taking every year.” He said legislatures are “worried about fixing your street today, not investing money for 20 years down the road. I think part of my job is looking long-term. It’s just a different way of doing things.”
Schroder sits on a three-person board for when the state has to take over a town that can’t handle its finances. “That is not fun at all. I think we have to be more active than proactive.” He added, “We really need to get out of the habit of using your water and sewer money on other things. What I see in government, we manage for today and forget about tomorrow. You owe a responsibility to tomorrow, meaning 15-25 years down the road. We have a severe water and sewer problem in this state.”
Mayor Jennifer Vidrine thanked Schroder for everything he does for the state. “We’re going to go to D.C. and show y’all Republicans and Democrats can work together and get things done,” she said. “We don’t want the negativity that’s happening in D.C. to trickle down to us. We’ve always gotten along. If we keep talking and caring about all our people, we can get things done.”
Schroder, who is an Army veteran and former narcotics agent originally from Jefferson Parish, has spent nine years in the legislature. He said he believes heavily in public service. He recognized Mayor Vidrine, saying, “We sit on a board together and I’m very familiar with her. I don’t know much about her politics, but I can tell you this much, she’s pretty tenacious. She has represented herself and you well in the forums I have been in.” He also echoed what the mayor said about opposite parties working together. “I’m not really good at politics. I really don’t like it. I don’t know why we have to run as Republicans or Democrats. I’m your state treasurer. You are my boss. That’s the culture I’m breeding in government right now, to try to put some faith back in this process,”
Schroder also recognized former state representative Bernard LeBas, who started in the legislature the same time he did. “Y’all sent another good legislature in Rhonda Butler,” he said. “She works very hard and is very sincere. She doesn’t have a political bone in her body.”
“Thank you so much for delivering these checks personally,” said Vidrine. “We do have a treasurer who cares about everyone, not just the D’s, not just the R’s, but people. He wants to do the right thing for everyone, and he cares about doing the right thing even when it’s not popular. We’ve got a good man here, and I think he’s representing us well.”
When asked how important it is to take care of the rural parishes which often seem to be left out, Schroder said, “That’s one reason the mayor and I struck it off. The rural communities do get left out because of the media market and population. When I ran the Main Street Recovery Grant Program, I emphasized the rural community. I went around the state and hung out in the rural areas. We really emphasize advertising with the locals to get people to apply.”