Finance
Leslie Long - Chief Financial Officer
The Department of Finance is responsible for accounting, financial reporting, budgeting, collection and distribution of funds, fiscal management, maintenance and indebtedness and investments and entity-wide transaction compliance monitoring. Finance provides administrative and technical support to ensure that the finances of the Parish are maintained according to adopted administrative policies and generally accepted accounting principles for the governmental sector; and shall advise Administration and the governing authority on the fiscal soundness of the Parish in compliance with any and all applicable rules, laws, standards and policies. Each fiscal year, The Department of Finance prepares the Annual Operating and Capital Budget, which is public record and available for download below. The Finance Department has received the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada for eighteen consecutive years. In 2013, St. Tammany Parish earned a sewerage and water debt rating upgrade from Standard and Poor's because of several criteria including the Parish system maintaining a strong financial profile.
The mission of the Department of Finance is to ensure accountability for the public's funds. Finance strives to transparently and completely document that those funds are used soundly and appropriately; and that risks associated with the funds are identified and reduced. Finance also works to ensure that it receives all required information needed from other departments in order to demonstrate, to the citizens which the government serves, that public funds are being efficiently and effectively used for their needs and benefit.
The vision of the Department of Finance is to preserve the public trust by continually ensuring that economic resources provided by the taxpayers, other governments and outside entities are properly accounted for in a precise, consistent and ethical manner in compliance with all applicable laws and accounting standards. Finance seeks to preserve the public trust in the Parish government and its use of the public's money by providing accurate and timely data, through support of the departments.