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| Staff has now confirmed, after some confused statements from the dais last Thursday, that the ECSO does not send any money to any outside organizations for which funding from the Law Enforcement Trust Funds (LETF) is contemplated and requested--- prior to pre-approval by the BCC. This is exactly how the process should be handled under Florida statutes.... |
This past Thursday there was a brief discussion among my counterparts about the process for disbursing funds from the County's Law Enforcement Trust Fund. This discussion came as a sort of a shock to me, as I was under the assumption that we had ironed out the kinks in the previous process and had arrived at a place where the process was working well, and working as contemplated in statutes (i.e. ECSO vets requests for funding then makes recommendations for funding to the BCC, then the BCC votes, and then AFTER the BCC votes on the recommendations--the organizations are funded)
A question during the public forum led to some confusion among some on the dais which ultimately led to an inaccurate statement about the process being made at the meeting, which led to me asking some pointed questions for clarification to insure we were still doing what we are telling folks we are doing--which is approving requests from the Sheriff (and showing great deference to him and his selections for awardees) before funding occurs. And come to find out--that is exactly what is happening. After the discussions I confirmed with staff that the LETF funding for organizations from ECSO only occurs AFTER the BCC votes to approve such funding.
In the past, the funding allocations were made, and then the BCC was sent information after the fact to approve--which was a backward process and did not comport with statutes. So that process was fixed and we are doing it correctly now. Hopefully everyone on the dais now knows that the process is working correctly, and that NO public funds are sent and NO checks are cut from any public funds prior to BCC approval of requests from the Sheriff. From the staff assessment that I requested after the confused statements at the meeting:
"The LET Fund had the following deposited revenues:
FY18/19 - $424,249.76
FY17/18 - $366,216.04
The $424K will be on the rebudget SBA at the 11-7-19 BCC
Meeting. By statute we cannot budget for these funds during the budgeting
process, we use the actual collections to establish the budget in the new
Fiscal year.
The Sheriff consistently generates $300-400k each year in
the LET.
The Clerk would hold that LET payment until the funds are
officially recognized by the BCC and added to the budget.
Handling of LET Requests:
The Sheriff’s Office brings the LET requests to the board
for approval, after BCC approval they cut a check from their General Fund, get
all appropriate backup/documentation for these funding requests, then submit to
the Clerk’s Office to record the expense to the LET and reimburse the Sheriff’s
General Fund. They do not fund an agency request prior to the BCC approval.
I confirmed this is how they are handled with the
Sheriff’s Office."
