WHITE CASTLE - A letter addressed to the residents of the small White Castle community in Iberville Parish from the mayor read that the town was facing a "new" situation: its police department had exhausted its budget for the 2023 fiscal year. 

"Current budget figures depict the White Castle Police Department has essentially exhausted its budget for the 2023 Fiscal Year," the letter from Mayor John Morris said. "Our Fiscal year here in the town spans Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. There are roughly four months left in this fiscal year."

The letter cited three primary reasons for the premature draining of funds: a greater number of personnel being hired than what was budgeted for, hourly pay rates being awarded at a higher rate than what was budgeted for, and imperfect reporting of hours due to a broken time clock. 

"In the coming days, a decision must be made as to how public safety will be carried out in our town through the end of September," the letter later read. In bold at the conclusion of the letter were three bullet points: 

1) Public safety in the town of White Castle will not be interrupted, but it has the potential to look different. 

2) The Town of White Castle recently received a clean audit, so rest assured there is no reason to suspect that there is broad mismanagement. 

3) The Town of White Castle is not financially strained, however, the Board and I [Morris] are committed to building a substantial reserve fund for a rainy day, so this matter can impede our efforts. 

A budget conference has been scheduled for Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. to "gain a better understanding of WCPD's expenditures, projections through the end of the Fiscal year, and how much additional money is needed to fund WCPD through the end of the Fiscal Year."