Commissioner threatens report to governor over property appraiser's budget transparency

Politics and policy continue to collide in Brevard County government this week after County Commissioner John Tobia said he would file a complaint with the governor's office against Property Appraiser Dana Blickley if she did not provide more detailed documentation on her budget by Friday afternoon.

Blickley said the forms will be provided to the county on Friday.But Blickley also said Thursday she feels unconcerned about anything Tobia may file with the governor's office. Tobia's notice that he may report Blickley to Gov. Ron DeSantis over the budget forms came one day after a contentious special meeting that saw the two elected officials spar over the reporting procedure.

"We have been providing the same schedules for as far back as I have records," Blickley said. "Obviously the county has never needed that. If he wants to go file complaints to the governor, he'll find that I'm doing what the majority of my peers do all over the state."

In a prepared statement, Tobia said Blickley's office was "withholding" the documentation that is required by state statute, an allegation she denied flat-out when reached for comment Thursday afternoon. "It's a lie. We're not withholding anything. This office has never been in any violation of any request for data. This is a game to him," Blickley said. She said her budget forms, which are submitted to and approved by the Florida Department of Revenue, have never been an issue. Those budget forms, however, are required by state law to be submitted to the County Commission at the same time they are submitted to the DOR, who has approval powers over the Property Appraiser's Office budget. The county cannot control the budget, but only appeal to the state if they feel it is unfeasible.

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Tobia has said he simply wants transparency on the budget in hopes that the county can find ways to reduce costs from Constitutional Officers. In an analysis by County Attorney Morris Richardson provided by Tobia's office, Richardson wrote that Blickley's documentation did not meet the statutory minimum.

"Not my opinion, it's the county attorney's opinion," Tobia said.

Blickley said emphatically that any documentation that may have not been submitted to the county was never done so intentionally or withheld from commissioners. Tobia was unwavering in saying they were being withheld.

The skirmish between the county's constitutional officers such as the property appraiser, began earlier this month when Tobia said he feared big increases in their budgets may push the county to make cuts elsewhere. Blickley and others such as Tax Collector Lisa Cullen and Supervisor of Elections Tim Bobanic have said they felt blindsided by the county's sudden scrutiny over their spending needs, which are approved separately. Tobia, who will leave the county commission due to term limits after next fall, is now running against Bobanic to be the next Supervisor of Elections. Holding a special meeting and issuing budget questionnaires to the constitutional offices was seen by Blickley and Bobanic as a disingenuous move to campaign from office, an accusation Tobia has denied. Tyler Vazquez is the North Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-917-7491 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @tyler_vazquez

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Fight continues over Brevard property appraiser's budget transparency