Madden's Financial Claims Challenged: Lyons Exposes Discrepancies




Mayoral candidate Jeff Lyons has released a video countering Mayor Madden's paid advertisement and disputing the mayor's assertions regarding accounting practices, accolades from the CRI (Carr Riggs & Ingram), and the city's financial stability.



In Mayor Madden's video, he asserts that Mandeville is in excellent financial shape with no deficits and a healthy fund balance. However, Mr. Lyons argues that city documentation and the CRI presentation indicate a different reality. While CRI did commend Mandeville for its strong General Fund balance, Mr. Lyons notes that it was attributed to the previous administration. Furthermore, he highlights that CRI recommended conservative financial projections, which were disregarded, with all CRI projections indicating a decline in the city's financial health.

See the CRI Mandeville Forecast Presentation

Mr. Lyons also challenges the mayor's assertions regarding current accounting practices and contrasts them with those of previous administrations. He cites an example where previous Finance Director Frank Oliveri provided detailed monthly reports spanning 47 pages, inclusive of all fund balances. In contrast, the current Finance Director's reports are significantly shorter, with a recent example consisting of only 14 pages and lacking fund balance information. Councilman Rick Danielson and others have repeatedly requested fund balance information for five months to no avail. Mr. Lyons personally submitted public records requests but received responses that lacked the fund balances. Following advice from the City's attorney to pursue legal action, he filed a lawsuit with the 22nd district court to compel the city to disclose the information for public release.

A report from the previous administration: Monthly Financial 2019 APR

A report from the current administration: Financial Report Jan31_2024

Highlighting the lack of transparency under Mayor Madden's administration, Mr. Lyons questions why the FY23 Annual Financial Statement is 130 days overdue, suggesting that if the city's finances were indeed healthy, the mayor would have released the information promptly. Moreover, Mr. Lyons expresses concern that the FY2024 outlook appears headed for another deficit, with recurring expenses projected to surpass recurring revenues.

As the mayoral race heats up, the debate over Mandeville's financial management intensifies, Jeff Lyons emerges as a stalwart advocate for transparency, conservative fiscal principles, and accountability in city governance.

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