Budget Diet?

September 21, 2011

On today’s opinion page of the Sun-Sentinel, BizPac chairman John R. Smith takes the county to task over its budget process, from what he calls the “Weisman ritual” – proposing a budget that always seems to out of step with conditions, to the arcane and obscure way that the budget is prepared by OFMB. Mr. Smith cites the recent TaxWatch report which concludes the county is holding too much in reserves, owns too much unused property, has too much debt, and does not prepare their budget “in a way that is uniform with Florida’s standard financial reporting“.

He concludes:

The Commission, at a minimum, needs to set policy and start holding Weisman accountable, to insist on an audit of the entire budget process (but not by the internal auditors) and an annual reconciliation between Florida’s specifications, and the County’s budget documents.“

For the full article see: Time for Palm Beach County to go budget diet