Updated October 2, 2026.
Fenton’s fine revenue remains a substantial part of its reported finances, but the figures have changed since our earlier article. The latest available financial report lists $1,186,767 in fines and forfeitures for the year ended June 30, 2024. That is $299,679 less than the amount reported for fiscal 2023, a decline of about 20.2%.
There is an important qualification: the auditor did not express an opinion on the General Fund figures because sufficient supporting evidence was unavailable. The report is useful public information, but calling those numbers verified ticket collections would overstate what it establishes.
Have a Fenton ticket? Send us your citation for review. The named court, charged offense, and response date determine the steps in your case; an article about village finances does not change your deadline.
The latest report covers fiscal 2024, not current ticketing
The Fenton report filed with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor was publicly released December 10, 2025. Its financial statements cover the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024. Those dates answer different questions: when the report became available and when the reported financial activity occurred.
We checked the auditor’s public-report index on October 2, 2026. A later release date does not turn older financial figures into 2025 or 2026 citation statistics. This update therefore identifies the fiscal year beside every comparison.
Reported fine revenue fell, but remained a large share
| General Fund measure | FY ended June 30, 2023 | FY ended June 30, 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Fines and forfeitures | $1,486,446 | $1,186,767 |
| Total revenue | $1,617,408 | $1,397,111 |
| Fines as a share of total revenue | 91.9% | 84.9% |
The calculation is fines and forfeitures divided by total General Fund revenue. For fiscal 2024, $1,186,767 divided by $1,397,111 equals approximately 84.9%. The earlier column comes from the fiscal 2023 report. We use the same fund and revenue categories for both years. Combining the village’s water and sewer operations with one year’s denominator would produce a different comparison.
The percentage dropped about 7.0 percentage points. That is different from the 20.2% decline in the fine-revenue amount. Neither calculation establishes how many tickets police issued, the average price of a ticket, or the percentage of drivers who lived outside Louisiana.
Why the audit disclaimer belongs beside the numbers
Pages 3 and 4 of the latest report distinguish the opinion on each part of the village’s finances. The auditor disclaimed an opinion on governmental activities, business-type activities, and the General Fund. The Streets, American Rescue Plan, and LCDBG funds received unmodified opinions.
The stated reason for the disclaimer was unavailable documentation. The report describes missing records and the retrieval of some records after a new administration took office in January 2025. It says the evidence available was insufficient to support an audit opinion on the affected financial statements.
That is a limit on assurance, not a finding that every listed dollar is wrong. It also means the report should not be presented as independent confirmation of the General Fund totals. A headline repeating the revenue number without that qualification would miss a central part of the update.
Fine revenue and traffic-ticket counts are different measures
A fines-and-forfeitures revenue line does not supply a count of speeding citations. It can also reflect charges beyond speeding and financial activity from cases initiated in a different period. The fund statement uses governmental accounting rules; a separate cash-collection schedule answers a different question.
For that reason, the decline does not prove that enforcement fell by 20.2%. Changes in payment timing, case outcomes, accounting, or the mix of offenses can affect revenue. The audit does not provide the offense-level citation records needed to separate those possibilities.
The figures also do not establish a new statewide ranking. Identifying the Louisiana municipality most dependent on fines would require a consistent comparison of other municipalities’ reports, fiscal years, revenue definitions, and audit qualifications.
Does the mayor necessarily hear your case?
R.S. 33:441 gives a mayor’s court jurisdiction over municipal-ordinance violations and permits an appointed attorney magistrate to preside in the mayor’s place. The court’s name therefore does not establish which person will hear a particular case.
The statute also requires initial training and continuing education for presiding mayors and magistrates. Our earlier article’s discussion should not be read as a claim that mayor’s courts have no legal procedures or training requirements. Check the current court instructions for your citation rather than relying on a historical account of its personnel.
What matters if you were stopped on U.S. 165
Start with the issuing agency and the court named on the citation. A ticket received near Fenton is not necessarily a Fenton municipal case. Preserve the alleged speed, posted limit, location, charge number, and any dashcam footage already available.
If you want to dispute the allegation, paying before understanding the court’s process can affect your available options. Do not assume the village’s revenue percentage itself supplies a defense. Our Fenton traffic-ticket service page explains how to request help with an individual citation.
Contact our team with a readable copy of the ticket and its deadline. We can review the charge and explain the available representation. The financial update helps put the public discussion in context; your case still depends on its own facts and procedure.
Updated October 2, 2026. Financial sources: Village of Fenton fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2024 reports filed with the Louisiana Legislative Auditor. Calculations use the General Fund revenue statements, not a statewide citation dataset.