MONROE, La. (KNOE) - The 2023-2024 audit report was released for the town of Jonesboro and at first glance, it doesn’t look good for the town.A few things listed in the report include failing to file financial statements in the given time frame, lacking adequate procedures to maintain a list of capital assets, unpaid bills and more.Mayor James Harris has an explanation.“I took office on January 1st, 2023 and the previous administration did not complete their audit,” Hardin says. “They left us with...
MONROE, La. (KNOE) - The 2023-2024 audit report was released for the town of Jonesboro and at first glance, it doesn’t look good for the town.
A few things listed in the report include failing to file financial statements in the given time frame, lacking adequate procedures to maintain a list of capital assets, unpaid bills and more.
Mayor James Harris has an explanation.
“I took office on January 1st, 2023 and the previous administration did not complete their audit,” Hardin says. “They left us with over $700,000 in unpaid bills. The team that I have now, they’re working so diligently trying to get Jonesboro going in the right direction.”
Mayor Leslie Thompson, the previous mayor of Jonesboro, was convicted in 2013 on three counts of malfeasance in office. After that, James Bradford took office.
Mayor Harris says it’ll take some time to fix the mistakes of the past.
Councilmen Devin Flowers and Robert Hunter disagree, saying Mayor Harris should take blame for the issues in Jonesboro.
“This audit is solely the fault of this administration here. The old administration has nothing to do with it,” Hunter says.
They say, at the end of the day, all they want is transparency between the mayor and the council.
“If I need some documentation, it’s a problem getting it, so that’s why we had to reach out to the legislative auditors to get paperwork or to get them to come in and audit some things,” Flowers says. “The Council we are just supposed to be the steward of taxpayers money and watch it to make sure it’s not spent wrong.”
Mayor Harris says he is working diligently to ensure transparency while in office, and he has a plan to right the wrongs.
“I say it’s a slow process, but I would say that it’s a good audit first of all and we’re moving in the right direction,” Harris says. “If the former mayor and the current Council members hadn’t started this investigation, we wouldn’t know exactly where we are.”
The full audit report can be found on the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s website here.