Ask the Attorney General
To the editor:
In 2006 the Auditor General conducted an operational and compliance audit of the City of Cape Coral. There were many findings that did not bode well for The city of Cape Coral.
On the followup audit there were still some findings that had not been resolved. One of those findings was finding #4. This State Audit Revisit in October 2008 clearly states that this finding has not been addressed and that it is in fact a point of law.
What his finding addresses is that the city does not take into consideration all available net assets from prior fiscal years when adopting budgets for water, sewer and storm water which is contrary to Florida State Statute 166.241(2).
The last time this finding was discussed on the council floor we heard misinformation coming from the dais related to making the budget appear to look larger than it actually was. This was not true then and it is not true now. If a project is split over two or more fiscal periods the portion of the funds that would be spent in that actual fiscal period would be allocated to that particular cycle. Therefore we would actually obtain a better snap shot related to what was going on in any given budget cycle.
This city manager disagreed with this finding as did the city attorneys. Former Mayor Arnold Kempe agreed with the auditor general as did Councilman Deile. Both these gentlemen are attorneys and surely would welcome a good debate, but the time for debate is over and a long over due attorney’s general opinion is in order. It has been nearly three years and I believe the residents have a right to know if the city is or is not breaking the law. We just can’t sweep things like this under the rug and walk away from them.
This has been going on (as well as other findings) for around three years now. Isn’t it time we cleared this up? We need to get to the truth (request an attorney general opinion and let the cards fall where they may). If the city manager is right then leave things they way they are if he is wrong then make the necessary adjustments in order to keep the state happy. So let’s get an attorney general’s opinion on finding #4 and straighten this conflict out once and for all.
John Sullivan
Cape Coral Minutemen