
The city of Archer misspent more than $300,000 in surtax dollars since 2017, and in an update to the Alachua County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC), the city said it is still waiting to hear from the state to come up with a repayment plan.
The city declared a state of financial emergency late last year because of nearly $200,000 in unpaid taxes to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) along with other debts and virtually no accounting records for the previous year.
But the misspent surtax dollars, which came from Alachua County’s infrastructure surtax that funds Wild Spaces Public Places, were discovered after the BOCC last discussed Archer’s financial situation in November.
In a Dec. 16 memo, Assistant County Manager Gina Peebles informed the BOCC of the misspent surtax dollars. She said Archer had received more than $738,000 in infrastructure surtax funding since 2017. However, in recent years, the city never set the money into a special fund for only infrastructure projects. Instead, the funding was used to pay for operating expenses.
Dallas Lee, hired by Archer as a finance consultant, estimated that the city had misspent $300,000, but he said the city still needed to work through last year’s financials.
A county staff recommendation to the BOCC was to set a three-year timeline for the repayment of the funds.
County Manager Michele Lieberman explained on Tuesday that the funds won’t go to the county. Archer will need to create a separate account for the surtax funds and repay that account through its general budget. Then the surtax dollars can be spent as approved by taxpayers.
Lee pointed out that Archer just cut $70,000 from its annual budget as the commission attempts to solve its problems. He said the city’s budget totals around $1 million per year, leaving little wiggle room to deal with so much debt and misspent funds.
Commissioner Ken Cornell said the city has a lot to deal with from the state. If the city survives, he said the three-year timeline for repayment would work or the county could extend if needed. He said it depends on how the state responds.
Lee said he and Vice Mayor Iris Bailey traveled to Tallahassee in December to meet with staff members for Gov. Ron DeSantis. He said the city has yet to hear back from the state on how to move forward. The issue will also be taken up by the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC), staffed by members of the Florida Legislature.
The BOCC also made a motion to have the county’s oversight board, which monitors expenditures of surtax funds, to begin enhanced monitoring to prevent future breaches.
In the fall, the county commission offered to help if possible but said Archer would need to send its requests.
Two requests came at Tuesday’s meeting.
The first is to provide planning assistance with redrafting the city’s comprehensive plan. Lieberman recommended that the city take the request to the Regional Planning Council. She said Alachua County could help as a member of the council, but the county will also start redrafting its comprehensive plan this year—already a large lift, she said.
The second request was for help to secure a lower-interest loan to offset the high interest Archer is paying to the IRS. Lieberman recommended the county wait for the state’s plan. She said Florida has the ability to help financially.
Cornell said he wants the state to be the first to offer repayments or assistance.
“We definitely should not be stepping in between that process, between the city and the state,” Cornell said.
The BOCC passed a motion in accordance with Lieberman’s recommendations.
How about the spinmeister on the ACC that took a salary while in office , and got removed ? If she never paid it back to us ,she could advise them how to discharge some of their bewildered debt. Then there’s the COG fleecing GRU and not held accountable. Many resources for the wokestors of Archer scratching their heads. As usual , nobody in charges knows nothing about the missing money. By the way is it $200,000 owed in taxes , plus a $300,000 shortfall? Define Misspent please.
“[N]obody . . . knows nothing”? You’re fired.
This is Misappropriation of funds. The audit also showed fraudulent expenditures that were not tracked and money that is missing. This should be prosecuted and criminally charged to the people that are responsible for taking this money.
Agreed. Not a word about prosecution. Crickets. Aditionally I think the entire group of elected city leaders as well as salaried administrative staff in Archer should be removed and the state appoint someone to run this small town for a few years. They can reapply in the future but for now they need to go elsewhere.They deserve grief for all of their corruption and lacadasical atrtitudes..