IA Report May 6, 2021 Part 2 + Surprise
August 15, 2022
West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency Audit Part 2 Released May 6, 2021.
Unlike Part 1 of the audit, this report contains 23 pages, and sums up the report. Below are excerpts from the report and I urge readers to read it in it’s entirety.
1. Inadequate Controls and Oversight of CRA Expenditures
Condition Page 6
“Expenses Without A Project Code: 93 (15%) expense items were not allocated to a project code. We found that the project code assigned to these items was zero, instead of being allocated to a project code where costs could be tracked and accounted for. The CRA paid approximately $731,341 for the invoices related to these expenses.” Read the entire report for Criteria, Cause, Effect and Recommendation.
2. Insufficient Oversight of the Incentive Grant Program.
Condition Page 12
“The CRA offers Incentive Grant Programs that have specific guidelines and an application process that must be followed. Each Incentive Grant Award must be approved by the CRA board, We reviewed all 85 grant projects that were provided to us by the CRA including all 101 invoices submitted for reimbursement and found the following discrepancies:” Read the entire report for Criteria, Cause, Effect and Recommendation.
3. Fixed Assents Variances.
Condition Page 15
“During our review of the CRA’s fixed assets, we identified an area of concerns related to the City’s fixed assets. As of September 30,2020 the City had a balance of approximately $85 million of land recorded in the General Government and the balance included all departments that own land as well as the CRA. We found that $26 million (32%) of the $85 million was recorded as a lump sum value.” Read the entire report for Criteria, Cause, Effect and Recommendation.
4. Lack of Tracking and Monitoring of CRA Properties.
Condition Page 17
“We found that the process to track CRA owned properties was inadequate and ineffective. As such, the CRA could not confirm with certainty that the list of 95 properties that they identified as CRA owned properties was inclusive of all CRA properties.” Read the entire report for Criteria, Cause, Effect and Recommendation.
The IA (Internal Audit) Report could not have come at a better time due to the timing of the report and the controversy over the Sunset Lounge, and who will be chosen to manage it.
Below you will find the story by Investigative Reporter Terri Parker of WPBF (25) and Ms. Parker apparently requested a PRR (Public Records Request) from the city concerning the emails. Ms. Parker has included a three page letter dated 8/3/2022 from the Procurement Division to Mr. Ben Bush, Mad Room Hospitality, LLC and states Mad Room “violated the terms and conditions of the RFP” (Request For Proposal) Ben & Zach Bush are co-owner’s of Mad Room Hospitality.
Email from: Zach Bush to Keith James sent 6/27/2022 @ 11:15AM
Email from: Zach Bush to Joseph Peduzzi sent 6/28/2022 @ 9:04AM
Email from Keith James to Zack Bush sent 6/28/2022 @ 11:00AM. James points Mr. Bush to a project coming down the road and suggest he check it out.
The CRA should be abolished, there are many millions not accounted for and millions more spent in 2 areas of the city with no oversight. Easiest department to pilfer money from. No one watching.
Below is the IA Audit dated 5/6/2021
The end