LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) – Lafayette Consolidated Government’s auditor Burton Kolder of Kolder, Champagne, Slaven & Co., LLC is clarifying comments made at the May 16th City-Parish Council meeting regarding the Parish General Fund.

Kolder says he  intended to distinguish the dire financial needs of the Parish General Fund versus revenues resulting from dedicated property taxes during the public presentation of the Annual Audit.

Councilman Bruce Conque commented, “We are misleading the public in terms of how much money we have to spend in the parish. The parish at this point is broke.” Kolder replied “You are correct; you cannot spend city monies on the Parish General Fund, that’s what people need to understand. You are absolutely correct; the Parish General Fund is going bankrupt.”

Kolder says his response was intended to confirm Councilman Conque’s comment that the parish budget is going broke.

“Given the lack of revenues in the Parish General Fund, it’s almost a certainty that services will continue to be cut. That’s what it means to be broke; you cut expenses which you can no longer afford,” said Kolder. “Bankruptcy on the other hand is a specific court-declared legal term which infers the inability to pay debtors or to ask for debt forgiveness. This does not apply to the state of the Parish General Fund and should not have been included in my original comments.”

Lafayette Mayor-President Joel Robideaux reassures that Lafayette Parish is not facing bankruptcy and is not in jeopardy of defaulting on any bonds, lines of credit or loans.