Citizens successfully petition Florida for operational audit of city of Milton. Here's why

The state's Joint Legislative Auditing Committee voted Monday to heed the request of state Sen. Doug Broxson, R-Gulf Breeze, and conduct an operational audit of the city of Milton centered primarily around its management of the North Santa Rosa Water Reclamation Project and its ongoing effort to build a wastewater treatment plant.

Why an audit?

Broxson decided to request the audit in April after he received 2,200 petitions from residents of the Milton area who expressed worries about the way the city was managing its North Santa Rosa Water Reclamation Project, including the planning and construction of a new wastewater treatment facility. The legislative body that met Monday agreed to assign the state's auditor general to perform the task.

What did the petition say?

The petition circulated expressed concerns about the proposed site of the Northwest Florida Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility.

"A lack of transparency by local government has fostered a sense of distrust in the planning, engineering and site placement of the proposed plant.

"As taxpayers, we are also rightfully concerned about the cost of the waste water treatment facility. Bids for the construction of the project were $56 million to $68 million, more than double the initial cost projections of $28 million," it said.

It asked for assistance from the Florida Legislature to investigate the reasons the cost of the project had skyrocketed, to review the site of the proposed plant and to "present a request to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee for an audit of the city of Milton, Florida."

"A lot of it was related to grand funding and grant certification," said Pam Mitchell, founder of Milton Concerned Citizens. "There seemed to be a lot of shell games going on with some grant applications."

What is an operational audit and what will it mean for Milton?

An operational audit, as described on several accounting websites, is one that looks beyond a single aspect of a company's, or in this case the city of Milton's, finances. It is a broad evaluation of multiple operating activities, both day to day and beyond.

"It's not limited to finances, it will also go into procedures and practices," Mitchell said.

City Manager Scott Collins, who started work in Milton in October, told the City Council on Monday that what the state auditor general is planning is no more than the kind of deep dive into all aspects of the city finances that he had planned to embark upon. He likened opening the city's books to the state auditor to "a great big open records request" and a "nuclear button open records request" in which city staff will be asked to produce records as needed.

"We'll make an effort internally to stay ahead of it," he said.

How long will it take and what will it cost?

Collins told the council the audit is likely to get underway in mid-spring or early summer of 2024. It is expected to take about two years to complete, after which the Auditor General's Office will release a report with recommendations for improvements.

A follow up investigation will be conducted 18 months after the findings are released to ensure recommendations made were followed.

Collins told the council he expected the cost of the audit to be about $125,000 in staff and administrative time.

"We look forward to the work," he said.

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This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Florida Auditor General to examine city of Milton management practices