Collier County, Florida
From Sunshine Review
Contents |
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Collier County is one of 67 counties in Florida. Naples is the county seat.
[edit] Evaluation of website
- Main article: Evaluation of Florida county websites
[edit] The good
- Budget is available.[1]
- County commissioners are listed with contact information.[2]
- Meetings are posted on the calendar[3] and can be viewed online.[4] Meeting agendas are also available[5]
- Local tax information is available.[6]
- Recent contracts are posted with details,[7] but not all active contracts are online.
- Building permits are available[8] as well as zoning information.[9]
[edit] The bad
- Does not disclose if belongs to taxpayer-funded lobbying associations.
- Includes a public records search, but not how to make a public records request.[10]
- There is no information on audits.
[edit] Lobbying
- Main article: Florida taxpayer-funded lobbying
Collier County has reported $440,000 spent on lobbying since 2005 (see table).
| Year | Amount spent on lobbying |
|---|---|
| 2009 | $60,000 |
| 2008 | $120,000 |
| 2007 | $120,000 |
| 2006 | $100,000 |
| 2005 | $40,000 |
[edit] Public Records
In late 2008 reporters organized by the Florida Society of Newspaper Editors requested the most recent budget emails from central Florida county officials in order to audit the responses.
In Collier County the Sheriff's office failed to comply with the requests for records received during the audit. Collier Sheriff Don Hunter denied failing the audit, saying "I have 20 years of experience." He demanded that the request for records be made in writing, which the law does not require, and tracked down the requestor's phone number to make multiple probes into why she was making the request. Hunter stated that he doesn’t consider calling members of the public intimidating, rather that "I consider that being a proper steward of public dollars". [12]
Collier schools and the county government each passed the audit.
[edit] Audits
For Collier County, the clerk or comptroller performs internal audits.[13]
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official Collier County Website
- Collier County Appraiser
- Collier County Tax Collector
- Collier County on E-Reference
- Collier County School Board
- Collier County Emergency Management
- Collier County Sheriff's Office
- Collier County Economic Development Council
[edit] References
- ↑ Budget
- ↑ Commissioners
- ↑ Meeting Calendar
- ↑ Meetings Online
- ↑ Agendas
- ↑ Tax Collector
- ↑ Contracts
- ↑ Permits
- ↑ Zoning
- ↑ Public Records Search
- ↑ Collier County - Open Secrets
- ↑ Collier sheriff fails secret public records audit, two other agencies pass, Naple Daily News, November 21, 2008
- ↑ PBC Clerk & Comptroller 5.30.07
| |||||
