published: Sunday, December 07, 2008

Avon Park CRA budget inaccuracies raise questions

By ED BALDRIDGE

ed.baldridge@newssun.com

AVON PARK -- Main Street Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Board member Will Bennett asked some tough questions of Mayor Sharon Schuler concerning budget discrepancies during the monthly meeting Thursday night.

The budget discrepancies come at a tough time for the city, which is expecting a $157,000 shortfall in its own budget because of a recent Florida Department of Revenue Report that showed sales and fuel tax collections were down.

Currently, the city is going through an audit and is making plans for a budget hearing in January to decide how it is going to handle the budget shortfall.

Bennett's questions involve the differences between a report generated by City Finance Director Renee Green and the actual budget adopted and approved by both the advisory board and the CRA main board, which Schuler sits on.

Additionally, Bennett expressed concern that he was told incorrectly by Maria Sutherland, the Avon Park project manager who acted as an advisor for the board, that the reports were not available.

"I went to Renee because a few months ago I asked Maria (Sutherland) if we could get a budget report so we could see where we were at every month in the expenditure process. I was told at that time that we could not generate a report. When I visited with Renee, I asked how much work it would take, and she had it for me in five minutes," Bennett said.

"What I discovered was that there was practically nothing in there in the event budget, and we budgeted $20,000 specifically for events, and we budgeted $5,000 for advertising, and it was not there either. These are just two things that jumped right off the page for me," Bennett said.

"We need to do a review of how this budget was entered, because this is not the budget we put in place," he said. "What I am asking for here is a true and accurate budget so we can make decisions and allocate this money correctly..."

"What we had on the page and what she interpreted is not the same," added Devon Donaldson, CRA Advisory Board chairman.

Schuler tried to suggest that the numbers may have been transposed or possibly one or two entered wrong.

"Maybe Renee had someone else do it and they got it wrong," Schuler said.

"No, she (Renee) said she entered it because I talked to her, and she also said she entered in exactly what she received," countered Bennett.

"I think what it was is the format on the system. She may have keyed in dollars that do not match in the system. Maybe the line items don't match what you have on your budget," Schuler offered.

"I thought of that, and what I am saying specifically here is that I went through this line item by line item ... and as an accountant I looked at it and no, they were not put into some other line area," Bennett clarified. "There is a budget amount that was allocated to event expenditures, and it is $5,510 and I know we budgeted $20,000 for the annual budget."

"And for advertising, which is the only spot which there is advertising in here, there is $150 where we approved $5,000. Those right there jumped out at me," he said. "I do not understood where the breakdown occurred, but this is not the budget we put in place."

"The total is correct, it's just where it is allocated," Donaldson said.

"Absolutely," replied Bennett.

Donaldson agreed with Bennett that the budget needed to be corrected, and at that point he stated that he would sit down and go through the budget line by line with the city.

"I can get you what I have," offered Donaldson to the mayor.

"That's a problem we had before, because we were trying to do something and they said, 'Oh no, you don't have that money' and we are saying, 'Yes, we do,'" Donaldson said.

Donaldson was referring to the CRA's attempt to hire someone to help with both the Main Street and the Southside CRA's work load, but the city council and Sutherland informed them that there was not enough money.

Additionally, Bennett and Donaldson have shown concern in the past because Schuler's insistence that the advisory board stick to its drafted plan.