Palm Beach County, Florida
From Sunshine Review
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Contents |
Palm Beach County is one of 67 counties in Florida. West Palm Beach is the county seat.
- Year county was organized: 1909
- Square miles in county: 2,034
Palm Beach County's population as of 2007 was 1,295,033. It is one of 20 charter counties in the state. It became a charter county in 1985.[1]
[edit] Evaluation of website
- Main article: Evaluation of Florida county websites
[edit] The good
- Budget is available.[2]
- County commissioners are listed with contact information.[3]
- Board schedule[4], agendas, and videos are available.[5]
- Building permits[6] and zoning information[7] is available online.
- Audits are available from the comptroller's office.[8] County audits are not posted.
- Local tax information is available.[9]
- Posts lobbying registration guidelines and which lobbyist have registered with their principals.[10][11]
[edit] The bad
- Audits for the actual county are not available. The office of the county's internal auditor has no relevant information. [12]
- Includes a public records search, but not how to make a public records request.[13]
- Information is provided regarding contracts, but actual contracts are not online.[14]
- Does not disclose if belongs to taxpayer-funded lobbying associations.
- Could expand on the lobbyist search by adding what kind of money is allotted to each principal. Mentions contact logs but does not post them.
[edit] Corruption
[edit] County commissioners
Three former Palm Beach County Commissioners are serving jail times for crimes committed in office:
- Tony Masilotti
- Warren Newell
- Mary McCarty
Former Commissioners Tony Masilotti and Warren Newell are serving a five year prison sentences on public corruption charges.[15] Newell's five year sentence was recently reduced to three years because he cooperated in the McCarty investigation.[15]
Former Commissioner Mary McCarty received a sentence of three and a half years in prison for honest services fraud with a fine of $100,000.[15] [16] The judge decided not to sentence her to the maximum because her offense was less serious than two other commissioners convicted of corruption.[15]
[edit] Mary McCarty
McCarty pleaded guilty to mail and wire fraud conspiracy and admitted in her plea to misusing her position to personally enrich herself and associates through a series of municipal bond transactions and through her receipt of gifts and gratuities from entities and people doing business before the commission.[16] [15] She failed to reveal her financial interests while advocating for numerous matters before the commission, and failed to file or filed incomplete or false disclosure reports to conceal her true financial interests from the public.[16]
Her husband, Lawrence McCarty, was sentenced to eight months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine in March.[16] He pleaded guilty in January to participating in, and not reporting, his wife’s crimes.[16] [15]
[edit] Lobbying
- Main article: Florida taxpayer-funded lobbying
Palm Beach County has reported $1,040,000 spent on lobbying since 2000 (see table).
| Year | Amount spent on lobbying |
|---|---|
| 2009 | $60,000 |
| 2008 | $120,000 |
| 2007 | $120,000 |
| 2006 | $120,000 |
| 2005 | $120,000 |
| 2004 | $120,000 |
| 2003 | $120,000 |
| 2002 | $100,000 |
| 2001 | $80,000 |
| 2000 | $80,000 |
[edit] Audits
For Palm Beach County, both the County and Clerk & Comptroller perform the internal audit. The County Auditor reports to the Audit Committee.[18] Audits completed by the Clerk & Comptroller are available on the Palm Beach County website.[19] However, audits completed by the county's Internal Auditor are not; more information about the Internal Auditor may be found on the County Internal Auditor's web site.
As of June 2009, Sharon R. Block, Esq. is the the county's Clerk & Comptroller. Block, like all Palm Beach County Clerk & Comptrollers, was designated as the County Auditor by the Florida Constitution and affirmed by the Palm Beach County Charter. As the Clerk & Comptroller, Block is in charge of "all auditing functions." As accountant, she performs the pre-audit function and as the clerk, conducts the performance audit function. Since the Clerk & Comptroller is an elected countyofficer, she reports only to the public. [20]
The Internal Auditor is Joe Bergeron, designated by the Palm Beach County Charter. The county charter requires that the Internal Auditor to be either a certified public accountant or a certified internal auditor. The Internal Auditor reports to a seven person committee as of Feb. 15, 2005.[21]
[edit] External links
- Official Palm Beach County Website
- Palm Beach Clerk and Comptroller
- Palm Beach Property Appraiser
- Palm Beach County on E-Reference
- Palm Beach County Convention and Visitor's Bureau
- Palm Beach County School District
- Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
- Palm Beach International Airport
[edit] References
- ↑ Florida's charter counties
- ↑ Budget
- ↑ Commissioners
- ↑ Calendar
- ↑ Agendas
- ↑ Permits
- ↑ Zoning
- ↑ Audits
- ↑ Tax Collector
- ↑ Lobbying registration
- ↑ Lobbyist search
- ↑ Internal Auditor
- ↑ Public Records Search
- ↑ Contracts
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 15.5 "County commissioner sentenced to 42 months", June 4, 2009
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 South Florida Business Journal, "Former Commissioner McCarty sentenced to prison", June 4, 2009
- ↑ Open Secrets
- ↑ PBC Clerk & Comptroller 5.30.07
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ Clerk and COmptroller as County Auditor, 12/5/06
- ↑ Clerk and COmptroller as County Auditor, 12/5/06
| |||||
