DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Tallahassee will scrutinize how Daytona Beach spends your tax dollars on Monday. The call for an audit follows a Channel 9 investigation that exposed questionable credit card spending, lax oversight, and generous car allowances.
A letter sent and signed by Senator Tom Wright asks the State’s Joint Legislative Auditing Committee to take a serious look at how tax dollars are being spent in Daytona Beach.
It says:
“The committee witnessed firsthand that Daytona Beach has amassed substantial and unnecessary surpluses in building permit revenues, well beyond what is permitted under state law…and that… recent investigative reporting has also detailed a troubling pattern of P-Card irregularities within the city. These include vague justifications, inadequate documentation, questionable expenditures, and internal controls that appear insufficient to prevent abuse or misuse of taxpayer dollars. “
His request is now listed as an agenda item on Monday’s meeting in Tallahassee. Today, we asked each commissioner how the city got to this point.
Stacy Cantu, Monica Paris, Ken Strickland, and the mayor all responded.
In a statement, Cantu said:
“I believe the taxpayers deserve and will benefit from an outside, independent audit. I am opposed to the city creating its own doge to audit itself.”
Paris said she wants the city’s audit to be presented first but that “if a state audit proceeds, any concerns should be reviewed with clear facts, and where needed, we should strengthen and update our policies and hold people accountable.”
Commissioner Ken Strickland met us for an interview.
Demie asks: “Do you have confidence in the city manager and city staff?”
Ken Strickland responds: “I do, I do. I have confidence that our city manager is capable of taking care of this. I have confidence in our auditor and our staff.”
Demie asking: “The state thinks there’s a problem. They say they’re going to come in and audit the city. What’s your response to that?”
Ken Strickland responds: “I’ve said it from the dais. I would like to see the state mind its own business; we will take care of it. We are working on it as I speak right now.”
Mayor Derrick Henry agreed to meet with Eyewitness News at 5:00.
This story will be updated when he does.
Here’s how we got here.
On Nov. 5th, a city commissioner brought up concerns about misspending on city credit cards.
That week, Demie began reviewing 500 pages of city credit card purchases and discovered thousands of dollars spent at retail stores and restaurants.
Then on November 17th, a travel expense report we exposed showed the city could have saved more than $120,000 in a year on travel if it was being more closely monitored.
Finally, we showed you the city auditor’s results from his review of the car allowance policy, which revealed that more than 85 employees receive an allowance in addition to their annual salary and benefits. They range from $ 1,300 to $ 1,200 a year.
Since our investigation, the city manager has suspended all city credit cards and created a new website to show all of the transactions made on them.
Full letter from Senator Tom Wright:
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