4 Quarter Budget report is in. The news is not good: documenting a $800,000.00 shortfall. Just as important, I am looking into a possible violation of the Village Charter.

The Fourth Quarter Budget (2019/2020) to Actuals report is in (Note: requested and received through a public records request).

So what is the status? Bottom line: A year-to-date shortfall stated as of October 16, 2020 of ($1,792,263). Per the interim manger,  the Fourth Quarter Budget (2019/2020) to Actuals. There are revenues that remain outstanding. The final projection is that once all revenues are accounted for it, Palmetto Bay will come in just under the Interim Manager's estimated $800,000.00 shortfall.

Year to date the Village collected $13,381,476, which is 85.59% of the annual budget

Expenditures (unreduced, apparently) were $15,173,739, which is 96.82% of the annual budget.

Red Tide? This is an unprecedented tide of red ink. Palmetto Bay has weathered the storm before numerous disasters in the form of hurricanes. The issue is how you react, of if there is any reaction at all – there appears to be only blank stares from most of the council.

Note that there was never any emergency (or regular village council) meeting where the Village officials attempted to cut back on expenditures.

The lowlights from the fourth quarter department budget report lowlights are presented here:

·       The Village Council was under budget $1,952, due to travel and supplies.
·       The Village Manager was under budget $58,509, mainly due to Manager transition. 
·       The Village Clerk was over budget $4,231, due to election costs. 
·       Finance was under budget $16,131, mainly due to auditing and travel. 
·       Human Resources was over budget $694, mainly due to village broadcasting. 
·       The Village Attorney was over budget $98,255, due to litigation. 
·       Community and Economic Development was transferred from the Building department in the fourth quarter which does allow for a true quarterly comparison, but the Planning consultant is running above budget. 
·       The General Government operating was over budget $345,310, mainly due to time of bond payments. 
·       Facilities Maintenance was under budget $53,171, mainly due to the closer of most departments due to COVID-19 
·       The Policing Unit was over budget $2,232,190, mainly due to two quarterly payments posted to the fourth quarter. 
·       The Parks department was under budget a total of $58,619, mainly due to COVID-19.

More disturbing is the question: HAVE PALMETTO BAY OFFICIALS VIOLATED THE VILLAGE CHARTER? This question must be asked as I can find no indication that there have been any public presentations regarding these quarterly financial reports for budget year 2019-2020, as required by the Village Charter, Citizens' Bill of Rights, Section (A)

(12)Quarterly Budget Comparisons. The Village Manager shall make public a quarterly report showing the actual expenditures during the quarter just ended against one quarter of the proposed annual expenditures set forth in the budget. Such report shall also reflect the same cumulative information for whatever portion of the fiscal year that has elapsed. 

Past administrations set the precedent where Palmetto Bay's Finance Director presented these reports live at council meetings, on the record, before the public, where the village council could discuss and ask questions in full view of the our fellow residents. This procedure is no longer being followed under the new direction, under the current administration. It appears that these quarterly reports were merely e-mailed during this 2020 year to the individual members of the village council. There are no meeting minutes posted that demonstrate any public presentation. COVID is not at fault, as council meetings have been ongoing virtually, and it would be just as easy to have the Finance Director present at the virtual meetings. There is no indication that any of these quarterly reports were even provided in an Agenda, where it is arguable that the public may stumble onto them. Hence, this is where I fear that there may have been a violation of the Village Charter, Citizens' Bill of Rights, Section (A)(12)Quarterly Budget Comparisons. I remain interested in any additional information that I may come into. My research continues.

There is a sound reason for requiring public presentations of quarterly reports. Perhaps these officials could have ‘righted this listing ship’ had there been public presentations of these quarterly reports. But then again, this current mayor and some of the village council have shown little regard in transparency. I base this opinion both on a total lack of any items of substance being posted to the village website (including the 2019-2020 quarterly financial reports), no resolutions for most of 2019 and any resolutions approved in 2020 as well as the recent loss (at taxpayer expense) of a lawsuit over public records.

The buck stops with the Mayor as the meeting leader, not staff, who work under the direction and control of the Mayor and Village Council. I have been advised that much of this information has been included in the Financial Monthly reports for FY2019-20 which are included in the Manager’s Report distributed to Council prior to each Regular Council meeting. It is claimed that this information is posted on the Village website, but that posting has not been obvious to me, so I am unsure, who, if anyone has access to this information. After all, when was the last time you, yourself, decided to browse through the website to see what new has been posted? This appears be a substitution, not compliance with the Charter. All I can tell my readers is that the Finance Directory made a public presentation at applicable Village Council meetings under the Flinn and even the Stanczyk administrations. There were robust public discussions of budget trends. This appears not to be the case for this current administration which appears to allege that discrete postings of monthly reports online, somewhere, is the same as  a public discussion of the quarterly reports showing the actual expenditures during the quarter just ended against one quarter of the proposed annual expenditures set forth in the budget. I respectfully disagree. My reading of the Village Charter, Citizens' Bill of Rights, Section (A)(12)Quarterly Budget Comparisons, requires a much more specific and more robust presentation. I do not fault the interim manager. The buck stops with the Mayor as the meeting leader, not staff, who work under the direction and control of the Mayor and Village Council.

The new manager will have his hands full keeping the current mayor and village council on task and to follow the budget, our procedure ordinances and even the Village Charter. A year to date shortfall of ($1,792,263) or even (+/- $800,000) is unprecedented. Returning to the prior process of presenting quarterly reports before the public (as required by Charter) is the proper place to start.