The Flagler County Mosquito Control District is under scrutiny after a million dollar shortfall came to light.
Flagler mosquito control officials recently completed a $2.1 million facility, but they didn’t properly budget for the project and now the district says it’s having trouble making ends meet. The director has since resigned. Rep. Paul Renner (R-Palm Coast) is calling for an audit but he’s not suggesting fraud is behind the shortfall.
“Clearly though there was a lack of internal controls,” Renner says. “At best a mistake was made, and if there’s more than that—if it was more than a pretty large mistake—then we’ll clearly look at what the next steps may be.”
Renner says an audit shouldn’t conflict with the district’s efforts to curb mosquitos while Florida continues to fight the Zika virus. But after a million dollar slip up, additional scrutiny is warranted.
“The question is, is this mosquito control district operating in the most efficient way possible so that taxpayers are getting their money’s worth,” Renner says. “And that’s a question we should always be willing to answer for ourselves and for others.”
The district’s annual budget is $1.8 million but after an accounting error the organization overspent by $1.1 million.
