By Tiffany Flournoy
CULLEN, La. — For roughly a month, employees of the Town of Cullen have faced a weekly waiting game with their paychecks, navigating a cycle of returned checks and empty promises as municipal bank accounts remain under active levies.
As of Tuesday, July 14, these severe payroll issues remained completely unresolved. The ongoing financial crisis, which has left the local police department and administrative staff working under severe financial strain, has now expanded to the town’s governing body. Members of the Board of Aldermen went entirely unpaid for the month of June, while the town continues to face scrutiny over its delayed response to public records requests.
A Month of Bounced Weekly Payroll and Frozen Accounts
For approximately four consecutive weeks, employees have reportedly been handed payroll checks that were promptly returned by the bank due to non-sufficient funds (NSF). In other instances, no checks were issued at all. At times, the bank simply declined to accept or cash the checks.
To address the unpaid wages, town administration has allegedly engaged in a pattern of writing new replacement checks to cover the old, bounced ones. These new checks reportedly were backdated. However, this cycle is reportedly occurring while active legal levies and freezes are in place on the town’s bank accounts—leaving staff caught in a revolving door of bad checks and financial uncertainty.
Police Chief Fannie Rankin and Officer Bryan Montgomery both confirm that they have received a mixture of insufficient checks and checks that the bank would not cash since June 16. Chief Rankin noted that at times, when she went to the bank to cash some of the issued checks, bank staff simply told her they could not cash them.
Official Bank Notices Detail Staggering $92,000 IRS Levy and Additional Holds
While town officials have historically remained tight-lipped, official financial documents recently obtained reveal the massive scale of the legal freezes paralyzing Cullen’s bank accounts.
Official correspondence shows that Bonvenu Bank sent a “Notice of Levy” to the Town of Cullen, referencing a freeze in connection with a levy from the Louisiana Department of Revenue. This state-level notice, dated April 17, 2026, indicates that nine separate municipal account numbers were impacted, resulting in accounts being frozen in the amount of $1,631.39. The town was advised that the accounts would remain frozen until a release of the levy or a court notice of judgment is received.
A subsequent letter from Bonvenu Bank, dated June 4, 2026, shows that the fiscal situation has continued to escalate. The bank issued another notice of freeze, this time explicitly tied to an Internal Revenue Service levy in the amount of $861.51. This notice warns that no additional withdrawals will be paid against this amount until a release is obtained, and notes that a processing fee of $50 will be deducted on the day of remittance.
Simultaneously, a federal Notice of Levy (Form 668-A), was received in April 2025 by the bank to collect unpaid federal taxes owed by the Town of Cullen. According to the official IRS assessment table, the town has a total amount due of $92,259.90. The federal document lays out the exact tax periods the town failed to pay, which span multiple years:
Civil Penalties: A massive $32,533.36 outstanding from a tax period ending in December 2016.
Form 941 (Employer’s Quarterly Tax Return – 2023): Over $4,900 total owed across quarters ending in June, September, and December of 2023.
Form 941 (Employer’s Quarterly Tax Return – 2024): More than $35,900 total outstanding from quarters ending in March, June, and September of 2024.
Form 941 (Employer’s Quarterly Tax Return – 2025): An outstanding balance of $18,817.26 for the tax period ending in March 2025.
Under the terms of the federal levy, the bank is legally required to hold the town’s money and bank deposits for 21 calendar days from the day they receive the levy before forwarding the funds to the United States Treasury, severely choking the town’s day-to-day liquidity.
Alderwoman Bianchi Veal: Council officials not paid; IRS Locks Accounts Over Years of Non-Payment
Tuesday Alderwoman Bianchi Veal told the journal “IRS locked accounts including payroll. The council was not paid for the month of June.”
The payroll paralysis has now climbed to the town’s elected officials. Veal confirmed the severity of the financial lockdown to the Webster Journal, detailing a crisis that extends directly to federal tax authorities and outstanding municipal obligations.
According to Veal, the IRS has issued official bank notices and locked several of Cullen’s municipal accounts —including the payroll account— due to non-payment of federal taxes spanning multiple years: 2016, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Adding to the town’s legal and administrative woes, Veal said that the town’s lawyers have outstanding, unpaid invoices.
The ongoing financial strain has also reached Town Hall’s core staff. According to Veal, Town Clerk Untracey Brittentine has resigned. Veal remarked on the vacancy and the uncertainty surrounding how the position will be filled moving forward.
“Now, we will see if the hiring process for the state will be used or if the Mayor will hire as he pleases and not bring it before the board,” Veal said.
State Auditors Return
State auditors were recently back in Cullen, according to Veal, though the exact reason for their return remains unconfirmed, and there are no known decisions or findings released yet.
Two Months for a “Document Dump”
At the center of the town’s wall of silence remains a months-long struggle for public records. In March, the Webster Journal submitted formal public records requests seeking critical transparency on the town’s banking ledgers, bank statements, and general business practices.
The request specifically asked for the rate of pay for every single town employee, as well as the bond certification of the town clerk— a security instrument strictly required under Louisiana state law.
After nearly two months, the town produced a disorganized collection of records that omitted key documents requested, including the town clerk’s bond certification and employee pay rates.