VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — The state is now officially investigating how Daytona Beach spends tax dollars, as Channel 9 is asking city commissioners why the majority of them voted against their own auditor making the issue a priority.
The state’s audit is in direct response to our deep dive into the city’s credit cards, travel and car allowances.
Twice since November, Commissioner Stacy Cantu has asked for the city’s auditor to prioritize an investigation into the city’s credit cards, and both times she was outvoted. However, when we were in Tallahassee yesterday, the state announced that this audit was being moved to the top of the list.
Over the phone Tuesday, Commissioner Ken Strickland told us he wasn’t making any more comments until the audit is done.
Last week, he had a different response.
“I would like to see the state mind their own business; we will take care of it. We are working on it as I speak right now,” Strickland told us then.
We also reached out to commissioners Monica Paris, Paula Reed, Danette Henry, and Quanita May. Last week, Paris told us she would support an outside audit, but hasn’t said anything since the state made it official.
May, Reed, and Henry haven’t responded once. We first started reaching out to them on November 12th and have followed up on various issues related to our investigation three times.
Mayor Derrick Henry has maintained he isn’t concerned about the city’s finances.
He shared a statement today:
As Mayor, I welcome the operational audit approved by Florida’s Auditor General. We are confident in our financial management and view this as an opportunity to demonstrate transparency and accountability. We will provide full cooperation and access to resources, ensuring a comprehensive review. This process allows us to address any misconceptions, rebuild trust with our residents and business partners, and continue driving Daytona Beach forward. We are committed to addressing any findings and maintaining the city’s positive trajectory.
The city manager had a similar response, saying:
As City Manager, I take our responsibility to be good stewards of taxpayer dollars very seriously. The City of Daytona Beach welcomes the state’s Auditor General to conduct an operational audit of our city. JLAC’s unanimous decision to support Senator Tom Wright’s request for this review underscores the importance of protecting public resources and maintaining confidence in local government. We recognize questions have been raised about the city’s handling of public funds, and we see this as an opportunity to correct misinformation, identify areas where we can do better and reinforce internal controls.
Our staff will provide complete access to records, systems and personnel, so the audit team can thoroughly evaluate our policies and financial practices. We are committed to transparency and accountability, and we welcome constructive recommendations that will help us improve how we serve the public.
Senator Tom Wirght who asked for the state audit said he’s concerned with how defensive the city has been throughout this process. He asked for the investigation into the city’s finances to be made a top priority.
Today, the Auditor General’s office sent us a statement explaining how the process would play out.
An operational audit, which is defined in Section 11.45(1)(i), Florida Statutes, as “an audit whose purpose is to evaluate management’s performance in establishing and maintaining internal controls, including controls designed to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse, and in administering assigned responsibilities in accordance with applicable laws, administrative rules, contracts, grant agreements, and other guidelines. Operational audits must be conducted in accordance with government auditing standards. Such audits examine internal controls that are designed and placed in operation to promote and encourage the achievement of management’s control objectives in the categories of compliance, economic and efficient operations, reliability of financial records and reports, and safeguarding of assets, and identify weaknesses in those internal controls.”
During the next few weeks, we will establish the scope of our audit to address the concerns of Senator Wright, for example, usage of building permit collections and purchasing cards. Once we establish the audit scope, we will reach out to the City regarding the audit process and to establish onsite working space and will start requesting documentation shortly thereafter. The time to complete an audit is variable, but we typically release our final report approximately one year after starting an audit.
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