BATON ROUGE — More than $7,000 in funds were misappropriated from BREC's books, a report released Monday by the Louisiana Legislative Auditor says.
According to the report, two incidents of fraud happened in 2022.
The first, which occurred on Sept. 12, 2022, saw $5,918 in cash misappropriated by a BREC recreation manager. The report says that the manager who committed the fraud no longer works at BREC.
The misappropriation happened because, the audit says, BREC's facility rental and cash collection process lacked proper segregation of duties, with one employee having too much control over rental coordination, payment collection and cash handling without sufficient independent review.
"In addition, rental records, receipts, calendars, and deposits were not consistently reconciled and supporting documentation was incomplete or inconsistent," the report says. "These weaknesses, combined with limited management oversight and reliance on manual processes, increased the risk of misappropriation, lost revenue and inaccurate financial reporting."
BREC management said that it has transitioned to using cashless payments and aims to have this in place by the end of 2026.
Another misappropriation of funds happened on Nov. 20, 2022, the audit says. This one, involving the department's payroll, totalled $1,206. The facility supervisor accused of committing this fraud still works at BREC, the report notes.
The mishandling of payroll money happened because there were deficiencies in the timekeeping and overtime approval process, the audit says.
"Employee time records were edited after the fact, including adjustments that reduced or removed overtime hours. The same supervisor had the ability to edit, approve, and submit time records, creating a lack of segregation of duties and limited independent review," the audit notes.
To remedy these issues, payroll functions were moved into the human resources department, with policies being put in place to create journal entries if and when timesheets are altered, the report says.
No charges had been filed or restitution paid at the time of the report's release, the auditor noted.
The auditor’s report also had four findings repeated from the previous year, including finding the commission failed to reconcile its general ledger accounting records promptly, failed to maintain a complete and accurate construction-in-progress schedule, failed to amend its Special Revenue Enhancement Fund budget when actual expenditures exceeded budgeted expenditures by more than 5%, and failed to prepare an accurate and proper Schedule of Expenditures of Federal Awards.
From Dr. Brooks Williams, BREC Superintendent:
"Since joining BREC, my focus has been on getting the basics right, so this agency can deliver the parks, programs, and services our community deserves. That includes accounting for public money, dealing openly with mistakes, and following through on the work needed to prevent them from happening again.
BREC staff identified the 2 incidents from 2022 discussed in LLA report, and EisnerAmper LLP, the independent CPA firm that conducted the annual financial audit, documented those matters alongside management’s corrective responses.
The $7,124 consists of $5,918 in facility rental cash and $1,206 associated with payroll edits that reduced or removed recorded overtime hours. For the cash incident, the report records notification to law enforcement, the Legislative Auditor, and the District Attorney. It also acknowledges that the controls in place did not detect either incident promptly, which means our responsibility extends beyond identifying a problem to correcting it, addressing the failures that allowed it to occur, and following through on any outstanding action.
BREC did have a backlog of earlier annual audits, with the reports covering 2022 and 2023 issued in 2025, followed by the report covering 2024 in May 2026. The latest report marks the previous finding for late filing with the Legislative Auditor as resolved, but it carries forward 4 other findings from the prior audit, and those recurring findings are unacceptable. Once a problem has been identified, the expectation is that it gets corrected before it appears in another audit, with someone responsible for completing the correction, a clear deadline, and evidence that the change is working in daily practice.
Independent audits give the public a way to examine how an agency accounts for its money and help management identify weaknesses that need to be corrected. Problems have to be identified and brought into the open so they can be addressed and resolved, and we will continue to improve how we share both BREC’s progress and its shortcomings. That means explaining what went wrong, what we are doing about it, and whether the corrections are working, so the community can judge our performance with a full account of the work.
The corrective work documented in the report includes monthly account reconciliations requiring Finance Director review, project and grant accounting training, the transfer of payroll functions to Human Resources, and mandatory supervisor training on fair labor practices. The transition away from cash collections is also underway, with completion targeted for the end of 2026. These changes address weaknesses in how payments are handled, records are maintained, and employee time is reviewed, but their value depends on consistent follow-through and verification.
Our current annual audit work and the independent forensic audit we have undertaken are part of that continuing effort. The annual audit will provide the next assessment of our financial reporting and prior findings, while the forensic review will examine financial records, transactions, and controls in greater depth to help us understand where practices failed and whether additional concerns require action. As that work proceeds, we will address what it identifies, make the required disclosures, and use the findings to guide further corrections.
I want BREC to be among the best-run agencies in the country, and that starts with being able to account for the money entrusted to us and deliver dependable services throughout the parish. We have work to do, and the community should see our commitment in well-maintained parks, reliable programs, and financial practices that withstand independent scrutiny year after year."
The full report can be read here.
WBRZ has previously reported on issues BREC has had leading up to the appointment of Brooks Williams as the department's new superintendent.
