Another Florida County is considering establishment of a County Inspector General. This is the first time I have read where it seems the County State Legislators are moving to set it up. We posted earlier about one in Palm Beach County, but that was initiated by local voters (and probably made into law by the County legislators).
Inspector Generals are usually setup to investigate reports of wrong doing, and may or may not also act as operational auditors to evaluate efficiency, effectiveness or economy of operations. All Florida government agencies DO get financial audits, but that really is the routine CPA type of audit to ensure the annual financial report is correct and accurate. Such audits do not evaluate efficiencies or cost controls like many corporations do.
As we have mentioned before, the oversight here in Lake County is fragmented and restricted because
the County Auditor only works for the Court Clerk, and cannot initiate audits of the County Board operations or other Constitutional Officers without "negotiating" with the County Manager and getting approval of audit topics and timelines. In contrast, other states have elected County Auditor-Controllers who not only independently process accounting transactions, but also audit County wide departments for operational efficiencies.
So, since the Lake County Board and Constitutional officers are not subject to independent operational audits, and tend to resist them (actually, NO SUCH audits of the Constitutional Officer operations like Sheriff have occurred ) maybe we need to start a campaign to create an Inspector General function in Lake County.
Read below about Broward County's efforts.
vj
Legislators vote in favor of inspector general to go after Broward corruption
Broward’s state legislators voted overwhelmingly Tuesday in favor of a measure designed to implement a powerful new inspector general who would police local government corruption.
“I’m very encouraged. I think there’s momentum,” said Roy Rogers of Lighthouse Point, who watched from the audience. Rogers is vice chairman of the state Ethics Commission and chairman emeritus of the Broward Fair Campaign Practices Committee.
“The momentum here is proof positive. There’s really something going on in the community that says it’s time,” Rogers said.
Two of the 15 legislators present said the proposal wasn’t a good idea. State Sen. Chris Smith, D-Fort Lauderdale, and state Rep. Perry Thurston, D-Plantation, both voted no.
Both said there wouldn’t be a need for an inspector general if State Attorney Mike Satz was willing to devote attention and resources to investigating public corruption.
“I want the state attorney to do his damn job,” Smith said.
Thurston said it’s a bad idea to create what he believes is an expensive new bureaucracy to duplicate what he thinks Satz should be doing. “The state attorney has the staff. The state attorney has qualified people,” he said.
Thurston said he thinks the measure received such strong support – with 13 senators and representatives voting yes – because of the political climate emanating from last year’s arrests of a Broward County commissioner, a School Board member and a former Miramar city commissioner.
“It’s the political environment,” Thurston said.
The proposal is a long way from becoming law.
State Rep. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, pleaded for support from her colleagues for a yes vote, and promised to make changes – after listening to 90 minutes of often-critical comments and suggestions for changes.
“I have nothing in my mind that is set in stone,” she said.
One change that’s coming is that the legislation will be amended to include officials at the city, town and village level – something not in the draft debated Tuesday, which covered Broward County, the School Board, and independent taxing agencies such as the North Broward Hospital District.
State Sen. Ted Deutch, D-Boca Raton, said local governments should be covered. Bogdanoff said several other legislators privately told her the same thing, so the measure would be amended to include municipal governments.
With the approval of the Broward Legislative Delegation, the measure now goes to Tallahassee, where it must pass the full Legislature. Because local legislators approved it, the measure gets expedited consideration in the Capitol.
