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State gets tough with Weeki Wachee

Tired of waiting for financial information, a legislative committee threatens to dissolve the city.

By WILL VAN SANT
Published March 5, 2005

BROOKSVILLE - Cough up the financial records, or risk getting erased.

That's the message state legislators have for the city of Weeki Wachee.

In a letter sent Wednesday, the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee in Tallahassee charged that Weeki Wachee had shown "habitual noncompliance with state law" and an "obvious lack of good faith" toward the public.

For almost a year, the state has been trying to gather financial information for an audit of the tiny city, whose mayor, Robyn Anderson, was once a mermaid at the Weeki Wachee Springs attraction.

The letter warns that the auditing committee will soon vote on whether to penalize Weeki Wachee, perhaps by withholding tax revenue or denying access to state grants. Further action will be considered, the letter says, including dissolution of the city.

"They are treading on damn thin ice," said Rep. David Russell, who does not sit on the committee but was sent a copy of the letter. "We are not playing around at this point."

Weeki Wachee attorney Joe Mason said there had been lapses in the city's financial record keeping, but those problems have been dealt with. Mason said the city has complied with all requests from state auditors and he has no idea what information the state may be seeking.

"That just floors me," he said of the state's letter. "We can't put the pieces of the puzzle together until they tell us what's missing."

It was Russell, R-Brooksville, who in April asked the state auditor general to look at the city's books. Among the questions to be answered: Was public money diverted to the flagging attraction, which the city took ownership of in 2003? Before that, the attraction was privately owned.

In May, the Legislature passed a bill limiting the city's powers. The move came in response to Weeki Wachee's attempted takeover of the Florida Water Services utility in Spring Hill and a doubling of city property taxes in 2003.

The bill revoked the city's power to exercise eminent domain or change its boundaries through annexation and put limits on how much it could raise taxes every year.

Not only is the city now under increased scrutiny from state auditors, but a years-long dispute with its landlord, the Southwest Florida Water Management District, is unresolved. Swiftmud has asked the courts to decide whether the city's ownership of Weeki Wachee Springs is legal and whether Weeki Wachee violated its lease when it dredged without required environmental permits.

Despite the apparent problems the state has had getting information from Weeki Wachee, a financial review of the city is nearing completion. Before the auditing committee takes action, Russell suggested, the report should be completed and the dispute with Swiftmud resolved.

State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, said he shared the auditing committee's concerns about Weeki Wachee. Fasano suggested that city leaders consider abandoning Weeki Wachee as an incorporated entity and devote their energy to improving the attraction.

"I am very, very disappointed with the city of Weeki Wachee," he said. "It baffles me why they can't comply with some simple regulations."

In a letter Weeki Wachee attorney Mason prepared Friday in response to the committee's letter, he charged that state auditors had failed to deliver to the city a preliminary report, as promised, that would allow any record keeping deficiencies to be identified and fixed.

Mason acknowledged that the city has not completed and delivered to the state a required self-audit for 2003, but he said Weeki Wachee lacked the estimated $25,000 to pay for such a financial review.

In his letter, Mason asked that the Legislature repeal the tax increase limits put in place last year so that the city could raise money to pay for the 2003 audit, or that the state pay to have it done.

Terry Shoffstall, staff director at the auditing committee, said that paying for audits and providing them to state financial regulators was the cost of doing business for local governments. It's one way to assure the public that the hands of government are clean, he said.

Pointing to the months of dialogue between state and Weeki Wachee officials, Shoffstall denied Mason's allegation that auditors had failed to make clear exactly what information they needed to complete their work.

"They all know very well what the law requires," he said.

Will Van Sant can be reached at 754-6127 or vansant@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 5, 2005, 00:41:15]