Puyau encourages second opinion of auditor’s letter

At a committee meeting Monday evening, School Superintendent Jerome Puyau explained to the School Board members about the letter that was recently received from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor.
Puyau went over each recommendation the auditor wrote in the letter and explained to the board members what each one meant.
All board members also received the letter from the auditor last week.
The first concern Puyau addressed was: Proceeds from an ad valorem tax not being used as intended by the tax proposition: The proposition states that 5 mills shall be expended only for maintaining and improving existing public school houses and building, including roof repair and replacement, repair and replacement of heating and air conditioning systems.”
The auditor stated in his letter that it appeared that around $1.4 million was spent on roofing, air conditioning units and architect fees for the new North Vermilion Middle School building.
The auditor also stated in his letter that the Louisiana Legislature Auditor was concerned that there may be legal questions as to whether the 5 mills can be used on purchasing roofing and air conditioning units for the new building. Because of the uncertainty, the state auditor recommended the school district get an opinion from the attorney general’s office on whether the school district was in compliance with the tax proposition.
Puyau told the school board members that the “key words are improvement, or you can repair or replace.”
“Back in 2011 when this was presented to the board, do we consider this as an improvement by replacing modular buildings with a different building?” asked Puyau.
Puyau said it was brought before the then board and it was approved by the board, that the school district wanted to use millage funds to pay for the roof and air conditioning for North Vermilion Middle School. He gave the date and year when the school board approved using money from the millage to also pay for the architect design fees.
The superintendent explained that seventh and eighth graders were being moved from portable buildings into a solid brick building, thus, the money was used to “improve” the buildings at North Vermilion.
Puyau, who was the maintenance supervisor at the time NV Middle was being built, got the OK from then Superintendent Randy Schexnayder, the school board members at the time, attorney Woody Woodruff and others to use the funds from the proposition to pay for the roof and AC units at North Vermilion Middle School.
At Monday’s meeting, Puyau recommended to the school board to request the attorney general’s opinion on the matter. The school board is expected to approve Puyau’s recommendation on Wednesday.
The superintendent also talked about the four other concerns addressed by the auditor.