(The Center Square) — Lawmakers approved audits for two Florida cities, Milton and Pahokee, on Monday.
The Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Committee discussed audit requests by the Florida Auditor General concerning noncompliance and misuse of state funds and grants.
Sen. Doug Broxson, R-Pensacola, began the meeting by requesting an audit of the city of Milton. The audit request was to check on the progress of a wastewater plant in his district that has been met with difficulties and is running years behind schedule at a cost to the state.
Broxson had also received over 2,000 signatures from his constituents asking that he request an audit of Milton.
“I do think this is a healthy process, this is the second audit that I have requested since I’ve been in office, the first one did exactly what we hoped it would do,” Broxson said in closing before his request was approved. “It made the city of Gulf Breeze a better city, and I believe this will make the city of Milton a better city and give them confidence as they deal with the public.”
Rep. Rick Roth, R-West Palm Beach, was successful in his request to have the city of Pahokee audited on behalf of its residents after stating that there was evidence that the city had mishandled state funds totaling around $2 million that were meant to rehabilitate certain areas of the city.
Roth explained that Pahokee is the only city on the southern end of Lake Okeechobee that has a marina and it is underutilized because of a lack of maintenance.
According to Roth, the city has a temporary use agreement with the state Department of Environmental Protection. Still, this agreement was due to expire because the city needed to properly maintain and operate the marina, campgrounds, and adjacent restaurants.
“The concerns are that they have spent a lot of money and lost money over the last twelve years and have failed to maintain the marina in a situation where it would attract usage,” Roth said.
Roth noted that he went and inspected facilities at the city’s campgrounds and marina and found that access to water, fuel, and bathroom facilities was missing in some instances. The Pahokee marina can hold 50 vessels but is currently empty because of the lack of facilities.
