Audits rip district’s finances
ST. GABRIEL — Iberville Parish Water District No. 2 board members indicated Wednesday night they would try to regroup after getting hit by a pair of independent audits blasting the body’s fiscal affairs, accounting and money handling.
As a result of the audit findings, the district is no longer eligible for state or federal funding due to unacceptable financial practices of its employees, according to the reports.
Case against former Avoyelles water district head could go to grand jury soon
BUNKIE — An elderly man who for years managed the Southwest Avoyelles Waterworks District could be charged by a grand jury within a month following a state audit that found nearly $40,000 missing from the district’s bank account.
Avoyelles Parish District Attorney Charlie Riddle III said he’ll bring the case against Frank Palermo to a grand jury in August or September. Riddle said he could not comment on the specifics.
A recent audit report by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office said Palermo was short $38,648 that should have been deposited in the district’s bank account from January 2009 to March 2011. The report, investigated and prepared by the legislative auditor’s in-house accountants, said there was $266,503 deposited during the period when there should have been $305,151.
The report said there is evidence of theft, bribery and filing false public records. There also could be a violation of the district’s loan agreement with the Farmers Home Administration because not all receipts were deposited, the report said.
Among the problems the audit found: people with active water meters were not on the district’s books as customers; payments recorded in ledgers were not deposited; and cash payments that were not recorded or deposited.
Palermo’s attorney dismissed the findings of the audit and said the former superintendent left the district in “great financial shape” but that “record-keeping was not his specialty.”
07/26/2012 at 11:31 am |
Record keeping does not seem to be a specialty seems a little short sighted
07/26/2012 at 1:24 pm |
Read the next to last paragraph on this story. Sounds all too familiar, doesn’t it. People with meters that do not pay their bill, and it is swept under the rug.
07/26/2012 at 5:37 pm |
Yeah, excuses, excuses! Saying that record keeping was not his specialty is another way of saying he was either inept or crooked or both! Besides the fact that his lawyer is trying to soft-pedal the charges, the guy clearly didn’t need to be in a position of financial responsibility. Let Illinois be thought of as the politically corrupt state.
07/29/2012 at 8:32 am |
Note this statement: Avoyelles Parish District Attorney Charlie Riddle III said he’ll bring the case against Frank Palermo to a grand jury in August or September. Wow, a District Attorney that actually does his job…….wish Riddle would drive north and provide tutoring services to someone over in Jackson Parish. Maybe you people in the TOJ could pay for it since they have to have so much training.