A nonprofit that runs three fire stations for Jefferson Parish's Eighth Fire District failed to formally report a suspected misappropriation of nearly $139,000 in employee payroll deductions, according to a new state audit, even as the company fired the office administrator believed responsible and quietly recovered part of the loss through an insurance claim.
The findings, detailed in an audit issued May 21, 2026, describe payroll deduction irregularities at Marrero-Estelle Volunteer Fire Company No. 1 that went undetected from June 2019 through May 2024, as reported by WWL-TV. An independent investigation identified approximately $138,770 in improper insurance premium withholdings and remittances, leaving employees with too much or too little deducted from their paychecks for years without anyone catching it.
The company's board ultimately determined the activity appeared intentional and constituted misappropriation of funds, the station's report notes, and the matter was referred to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office. A criminal investigation remained ongoing with no charges filed at the time the audit was issued, per the same account.
Insurance Covered Most, But Not All, Of the Loss
Marrero-Estelle recovered $126,275 through an insurance claim, leaving roughly $12,495 unrecovered, according to the station's report. Auditors reported that the company had not pursued restitution from the former employee for that remaining amount.
Despite the scale of the suspected theft, the company failed to notify the Louisiana Legislative Auditor and the Jefferson Parish district attorney in writing as state law required, the station's account states. Louisiana law, specifically R.S. 24:523, requires an agency head who becomes aware of misappropriation of public funds or assets to immediately notify the legislative auditor and the district attorney of the parish where the agency is domiciled in writing, according to the Louisiana State Legislature. Marrero-Estelle instead disclosed the matter to the legislative auditor through its 2025 audit, and had not submitted the required separate written notification by the time the audit report was issued.
Broader Financial Controls Under Scrutiny
The Louisiana Legislative Auditor's report on the company's 2024 finances gave an unmodified opinion on the financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2024, but still flagged a material weakness: unresolved year-end bank-reconciliation items that resulted in a material misstatement of cash balances. The same report found the company had not completed a physical inventory of fixed assets by year-end, and had not maintained an accurate schedule of parish-owned assets or properly titled certain property bought with parish contract funds — resulting in noncompliance with its contract. An agreed-upon-procedures document attached to that report said one employee alone was responsible for receiving checks, preparing deposits, depositing funds, and recording transactions in the general ledger — a separation-of-duties gap the newer audit also flagged, identifying one employee handling collections, deposits and accounting entries along with credit card statements lacking documented independent approval.
The 2026 audit identified payroll-control weaknesses, missing equipment records and repeated contract violations more broadly, including inadequate payroll deduction oversight with no independent review, approval or reconciliation process in place, per the station's report. Auditors also found no documented evidence that board members discussed or resolved earlier audit findings, and said financial activity involving public funds went undocumented in the February 2025 board meeting minutes.
Missed Meetings and a Pattern of Repeat Findings
Company bylaws require monthly board meetings, but the board failed to hold required meetings in five months during 2025, the station's report states. That mirrors an issue flagged in the 2024 agreed-upon-procedures report, which found the board did not meet in May, September, or November of that year despite the same bylaw requirement. Management attributed some of the missed meetings to a lack of quorum and said financial matters were discussed at membership meetings but not always recorded in board minutes.
Management disputed portions of the audit findings, according to the station's account, saying it had previously submitted vehicle titles to Jefferson Parish and that outstanding transfers were largely administrative. The company said it was working to improve inventory records and document asset ownership, and that it had strengthened payroll controls, separated financial responsibilities and established new reporting procedures. Management also said it had taken corrective action on payroll deficiencies and was working to resolve the remaining findings.
Findings on inventory and asset titling were repeated from the previous year's audit, the same report notes, and the company's contract with Jefferson Parish requires that equipment and other assets bought with parish funds belong to the parish, with certain property titled in the parish's name.
A Company Spending More Than It Takes In
Marrero-Estelle has spent more than it collected for a second consecutive year, reporting revenue of approximately $3.19 million against expenses of about $3.39 million in 2025 — expenses that included noncash depreciation, per the station's report. Net assets fell by $403,977 in 2024 and by $201,349 in 2025, a combined two-year decline of more than $605,000. The company reported approximately $7.2 million in gross assets used for firefighting operations and ended 2025 with about $1.9 million in cash reserves. Its contract with Jefferson Parish runs through December 2027.
Jefferson Parish has increased its annual firefighting contract payments to the company, from $2.57 million in 2024 to $2.81 million in 2025, and added $20,000 per month to those payments beginning in July 2025, according to the same report.
Not the First Time Scrutiny Has Fallen on Marrero-Area Fire Companies
This is not the first time financial controls at a Marrero-area volunteer fire company have drawn scrutiny. A Jefferson Parish Inspector General audit examining Marrero-Estelle spending from January 2012 through December 2014 found about $85,000 in unallowable expenditures at the station, including spending on food, groceries and employee bonuses, according to WDSU. That same audit found the department lacked sign-off on employee time cards, creating a risk of invalid payroll expenses, and said the company spent $211,077 renovating a fire station without obtaining bids, making it impossible to know whether the work represented the best value for the money spent.
A separate 2021 Jefferson Parish Inspector General investigation into the nearby Marrero-Harvey Volunteer Fire Company found that 34 of 41 reviewed expenditures, totaling $160,193, lacked written approval before purchase, according to WGNO. That investigation also found 39 of 41 reviewed expenditures, totaling $196,701, lacked a required invoice signature indicating board approval after the fact, and that the company had not titled vehicles worth more than $3 million to District 8.
