Lauderdale Lakes Discovers $1.7 Million Missing
BY BUDDY NEVINS
Already drowning in red ink and buried under past due bills, financially crippled Lauderdale Lakes is deeper in the hole after the discovery that $1.7 million is missing from the city’s redevelopment fund.
The city found in October that money had disappeared. After an internal investigation, puzzled City Hall officials this month hired forensic auditor Michael G. Kessler & Associates to find it.
The Kessler firm also was ordered to determine whether somebody stole the money.
Read the rest of my investigative report at Browardbulldog.org.
April 11th, 2011 at 10:19 am
It’s time to get rid of all the INCOMPETENT city officials and city commissioners…either DISSOLVE the city since they can’t make wise decisions or bring in NEW city officials (City Manager and City Commissioners) before its too late!
April 11th, 2011 at 10:30 am
RA doesn’t go far enough in his suggestion. We need to get rid of about half the municipalities in Broward. What is the purpose of a place like Wilton Manors or Lauderdale Lakes? Residents would be better served as part of Fort Lauderdale. The idea that these artificial boundaries persist is a waste of money duplicated for administration and services. There should be three or four cities east of I-95 and three or four west of it.
April 11th, 2011 at 11:10 am
Having watched first hand the efforts of Kessler International digging into books of Deerfield Beach, I can tell you those guys are bad to the bone.
But… Guess what…
Kessler found lots of shit. Illegal activities left and right. Kessler turned it over to the City. Who forwarded it to the SAO, HUD, and FBI.
And then not a fucking thing happened.
So don’t hold your breath. Oh and don’t blame Kessler. They did their jobs (in spades).
April 11th, 2011 at 12:23 pm
Josephus Eggelletion’s golf bag. Wasnt he a Commissioner there?
FROM BUDDY: Yes.
April 11th, 2011 at 2:18 pm
Now they are missing over a million dollars from the CRA. You know people will say what your any better Robert? First of all I never stole from the taxpayer. In reference to Tim Smith reporting my previous record(old news I never kept that info from the residents never.) Back to the CRA missing funds an audit should be done yesterday. Even in Ft.Lau they have to pay back 5 million dollars back to HUD from misuse of the HUD funds. So its rampant all over the place. So now they are broke and want the County to bail them out. Go to the Governor(good luck w/ him). Just gets better and better. How did this get past you Chaz Stevens?
April 11th, 2011 at 9:32 pm
It is interestingthat this city had no financial problems when the old retirees ran it.
April 12th, 2011 at 9:26 am
I see signs posted advertising the annual Unifest event in Lauderdale Lakes on May 22, 2011. Past Unifest events cost thousands of dollars! City Officials, stop spending money Lauderdale Lakes doesn’t have…………please!
April 12th, 2011 at 11:16 am
This is very puzzling. How many people have the authority to draw on the CRA account(s)? It’s not like there were a bunch of sacks with $$ signs on them laying around in an empty office. Didn’t the CRA Director, or City Manager, or someone else, possibly several people, have to approve expenditures and drawing down of funds? It just doesn’t seem like a very hard “puzzle” to solve. If there weren’t safeguards already in place for access to and spending of CRA funds, that is incredible upfront negligence. But maybe I’m missing something. Please educate me if possible.
FROM BUDDY:
It appears they had very loose controls, or no controls. The auditor will recommend changes in their procedures, but that is like closing the barn door once the horse ran out.
April 12th, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Thanks Buddy. Keep up the good work – you are a real journalist and many of us appreciate that. I have experience in government (not Laud Lakes, obviously) and one can’t even purchase a pencil without at least 3 people signing off and being responsible that the purchase is legit.
September 23rd, 2011 at 11:48 am
Buddy,
The Kessler Report was supposed to be presented to the City of Lauderdale Lakes Commission on September 20th. There has been nothing reported on whether this was done or not and what the results are. The City is making its final visit to the County Commission on September 27th to offer a ridiculous debt repayment plan. ($1 million in FY12 out of $9.17 million owed). I wonder if they delayed the CRA report or are keeping it quiet so as not to make their financial obligations look worse. Having to find $11 million is much worse than $9.17 million. They can never pay the full tab back and are just buying time. Thanks to Al Lamberti this thing has dragged on for a year and County residents have subsidized LL. He should have demanded payment from LL and gone to the State. What’s going on here? Other cities are sure to follow LL with their own bailout requests if this debt repayment plan is approved.