The Florida Auditor General recently published a follow-up audit of the Sunshine State’s economic incentives programs and found some uncorrected issues remain.
The Florida Department of Commerce assists the governor in working with the Legislature, state agencies, business leaders, and economic development professionals. For fiscal 2023-24, state lawmakers appropriated approximately $1.8 billion.
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The Florida Auditor General’s office has released two reports that detail significant issues and financial trends in the Sunshine State’s charter schools, charter technical career centers and district school boards.
There are 720 charter schools and charter technical career centers operating in Florida, with the majority in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. State law requires these schools to be annually audited by an independent certified public accountant.
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The Florida Lottery has become a crucial part of funding for education in the Sunshine State, and according to a recent report from the Florida Auditor General, it continues to grow each year.
In late January, the AG released the financial audit of the Florida Lottery, whose mission is to maximize financial revenue for the benefit of education “in a manner consistent with the dignity of the State of Florida and the welfare of its citizens.”
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The Florida Auditor General examined significant findings and financial trends in district school board audit reports and found issues needing correction, such as weaknesses in financial oversight and information technology security.
The report covered audits for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, and found several weaknesses in internal controls, for example, audits found instances of noncompliance with laws, rules or regulations. These were found in 43 of the 67 audit reports.
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A recent audit of the Miami-Dade County School District has revealed several issues with accurate record-keeping and sound financial management.
The Florida Auditor General found nine separate issues, ranging from IT and security concerns to failing to correct deficiencies in annual inspections.Â
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A recent Florida audit of the state’s charter school administration still shows a lack of oversight and business dealings that could be seen as conflicts of interest.
The Florida Auditor General recently released a follow-up report into the day-to-day management and transparency of charter schools in the Sunshine State and there were several issues that still needed to be addressed.
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A recent report from the Florida Auditor General has turned up three issues regarding the use of taxes retained by the Escambia County Board of County Commissioners and Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller.
Florida state law allows counties to levy and impose five separate local option taxes, referred to as the Tourist Development Tax, which allows rates of up to 6% of each dollar collected from short-term rentals of up to six months.
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Florida Auditor General Sherrill Norman would support the addition of sworn law enforcement officers to her office by lawmakers.Â
These officers can help state auditors by making arrests and maintaining transparency over the state and local governments and their stewardship of taxpayer funds. At present, Norman doesn’t have any in her office like Ohio State Auditor Keith Faber as one example.
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A follow-up audit for the city of Palm Bay by the State of Florida Auditor General found the city of Palm Bay has corrected all but eight of the 31 issues found in the 2020 report.
Palm Bay city Manager Suzanna Sherman responded to the Auditor General and detailed the findings that needed to be addressed, but had not yet been fully corrected.
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