Livingston Parish audit: clean opinion, one budget-variance finding; officials to audit landfill royalties

Jacob Waggaspach, partner with Falcon Winkler CPAs, told the Livingston Parish Finance Committee the parish's 2025 financial statements "will have an unmodified opinion," and that the audit is "just about everything but signed, sealed, and delivered at this point in time." He said the final, signed report should be submitted to the legislative auditor by midweek and presented to the committee at its next meeting.

The unmodified opinion reflects a year of substantial cleanup, Waggaspach said: auditors proposed about four adjustments this year compared with roughly 30 the prior year, and federal-award findings from earlier audits were cleared. "This was the smoothest one we've had in those three years," he said, adding the firm found only a single repeat internal-control issue tied to compliance with the Local Government Budget Act.

The repeat finding involved one parish fund that exceeded the law's 5% variance threshold; staff and auditors said the council adopted proposed budget amendments but the projections nonetheless breached the tolerance. Waggaspach and finance staff characterized the matter as correctable and said it represented a far smaller set of issues than in the prior audit cycle.

Auditors reviewed revenue and spending trends in detail. Total governmental revenues were about $79 million in 2025, Waggaspach said, with roughly $19 million described as unrestricted. Intergovernmental revenue in public works totaled about $18.7 million, driven by road grants, FEMA elevation and acquisition grants, and hazard mitigation grants; remaining ARPA funds recognized in earlier years were largely expended. Sales tax revenue grew from about $29.4 million to about $31.6 million.

Committee members pressed staff on a drop in reported landfill royalty receipts versus prior years. Staff said some receipts had been reclassified between accounting categories and that parish leadership assigned a team to review the matter; parish staff told the committee they had sent a letter to Waste Management and plan to audit the company's gross receipts to confirm compliance with royalty calculations. The committee did not record a formal outcome for that follow-up during the meeting.

The auditors also highlighted the parish's restricted fund structure: roughly $98 million of fund balance is earmarked for construction and road maintenance (largely bond proceeds and road-tax funds), about $16 million was tied to health and welfare-related activities, and roughly $10 million to public safety (including jail-related expenditures). Total governmental fund balance was reported at about $152 million, with roughly $21.5 million unrestricted.

Committee members and auditors praised finance staff for improving documentation, internal controls and timeliness, singling out a staff member named Gina for her role in tracking expenditures and closing prior-year items. Officials said the parish will begin project-management software adoption to replace complex spreadsheets for grant tracking and that architects for an approved sheriff's work-release facility will meet next week; the bond sale proceeds for road work are now being expended in the road program.

The committee received the presentation and had no formal objections; a motion to adjourn was made and carried. The auditors' final signed report will be presented at the committee's next meeting.