FAQs

This section contains information related to Louisiana Legislative Auditor best practices, reports, and more. If you cannot find an answer to your question, please contact us.

For legal questions, go to Legal Assistance FAQs.

Best Practices

1. What would be considered a prohibited use of public funds?

Article 7, Section 14 of the Louisiana Constitution of 1974 provides that the funds, credit, property, or things of value of the state or any political subdivision shall not be loaned, pledged, or donated to or for any person, association, or corporation, public or private. Examples of prohibited use of public funds include payments for Christmas turkeys and/or luncheons for employees, and attorney retainer fees. However, the constitution does provide for other situations in which a donation is allowed, but under certain conditions. If you are in doubt, seek an opinion from the state Attorney General.

Our office maintains a basic checklist of best management practices in government that agencies (both state and local) can use to assess their own performance. It addresses written policies and procedures for such areas as purchasing, travel, payroll, and public records retention. Check our Web site under the State Government, Local Government, or CPAs tabs and choose the "Best Practices" link, or contact our Advisory Services Division, if you need assistance.

Reports Issued by LLA

Yes. You can subscribe to the RSS feed for any of our reports by clicking on the RSS feed icon for that item. They can be found on our Reports pages and the footer at the bottom of all of our pages.

The title page of the report states whether the audit was conducted by LLA or by a CPA firm. In the list view, LLA reports are identified by our logo LLA logo. Reports issued by contracted CPAs are identified by the CPA icon.

All reports can be found in the LLA Audit Report Library. They can be searched by new reports, agency, year, and parish or simply queried by entering a term in the search box. LLA also has an RSS feed available under Audit Reports.

LLA has reports dating back to the inception of the audited agency or when the agency began receiving state funding. LLA maintains imaged reports from 1995 to present. Reports issued prior to 1995 are on microfilm.

Indefinitely.

Reports that are maintained in an electronic format may be obtained from our audit report library via our Web site. Paper copies are billed at 20 cents per page.

You will have to the call our office at 225-339-3800 when inquiring about a report's public release.

Tax Review

Yes.

No, the District is not required to adopt the roll forward rate or increased rate.

If a taxing authority levies less than its maximum authorized millage, both the actual millage rate levied the previous year and the maximum authorized millage rate are adjusted at reassessment. The adjusted maximum millage at reassessment becomes the maximum authorized millage if the taxing authority does not roll forward to the "prior year's maximum" millage before the next reassessment occurs. The “prior year’s maximum” millage is lost if the taxing authority chooses not to roll forward during this time frame.

The adjusted maximum millage is the "prior year's maximum" millage rate adjusted after reassessment to keep ad valorem tax revenues from being increased or decreased. The adjusted maximum millage is calculated using the prior year's taxable property valuation and the revaluation of that taxable property valuation as furnished by the Tax Assessors. The revaluation for the current year does not include new property going on the current year's tax roll.

The prior year's maximum authorized millage is the millage rate that a taxing authority may “roll up” to after reassessment. It is usually the same maximum authorized millage that existed before reassessment occurred. However, reassessment that results in increased property values also results in a lower adjusted maximum authorized millage. Taxing bodies can collect more taxes from a millage by increasing the adjusted maximum millage back to what it was prior to reassessment (prior year’s maximum authorized millage).

Working for the LLA

Learn more about working for the Louisiana Legislative Auditor by visiting our Careers page here.