Stop the potential fraud, waste and abuse in Tamarac

The city of Tamarac’s irresponsible and free-spending ways became front-page news, stirred a passive citizenry and captured the attention of the county’s fiscal watchdog.

All that, plus an upcoming city election in November, should be more than enough for Tamarac officials to do the right thing and clean up the terrible mess they created.

Any official report with the words “Tamarac” and “fraud” in the same sentence should immediately grab City Hall’s attention. With this city and its mostly dysfunctional commission, you never know. But we’ll soon find out.

The report by the Broward Office of Inspector General flagged the potential for fraud in an ordinance that gave each of five elected city officials a minimum personal slush fund of $15,000 a year, called a “fixed expense account,” with no requirement for receipts. The IG’s report cited the reporting by the Sun Sentinel’s Lisa J. Huriash, who broke this story last year.

She revealed other plans for taxpayer-funded office furniture, college tuition and technology stipends for commissioners. Our reporting also stopped that in its tracks, but only after city officials compounded their mistake by floating and then dropping an outrageous plan to spend $50,000 to investigate who leaked details of the planned spending abuses. That idea was downright Nixonian.

The $15,000 giveaway program was supposedly to pay for travel within 100 miles of City Hall. But with no documentation required, the inspector general noted, “There is nothing in place to show that the money is actually being used for its intended purpose.”

Invitation to abuse

That’s why we call it a slush fund. With no accountability, it’s an open invitation to abuse. No local politicians within 100 miles of Tamarac have a perk like this. Besides, city taxpayers are already picking up the tab for lavish pay packages for city politicians.

The commissioners get salaries of about $50,000 a year plus a pension, health insurance, free use of a city swimming pool, a $700 monthly car allowance, $50 monthly phone stipend and $25,000 for nebulous personal “initiative” expenses.

At a meeting on Feb. 10, 2021, with no public discussion or citizen input, the four commissioners tentatively adopted the expense allowance as a city ordinance, enabled by a former interim city attorney. The second and final vote came two weeks later.

As public outrage grew, the city did not budget the collective $75,000 for the travel allowance, so no one could take advantage of it. But that doesn’t lessen this mistake because, illogically, the ordinance remains on the books, as Section 2-425 (3) of the city code.

Only Mayor Michelle Gomez voted no, and it’s no surprise that she is now also the one calling for repeal of the ordinance. As the most responsible adult in the room at City Hall, she considers it a terrible affront to city taxpayers, and she’s right.

Gomez will raise repeal for discussion at the next commission meeting on May 11, and if at least two commissioners agree, repeal will be placed on a future commission agenda.

Watch Vice Mayor Gelin

This is a no-brainer. Vice Mayor Mike Gelin and commissioners Marlon Bolton, Debra Placko and Elvin Villalobos should all immediately support repeal — especially Gelin, who championed its creation and is now running against Gomez for mayor.

The inspector general questioned the legitimacy of the fixed expense account on several grounds, and we will add another.

It appears that the ordinance was adopted last year in violation of the Tamarac city charter, which states explicitly: “The commission may not amend the charter by ordinance.”

The charter already had a provision that allows elected officials to be reimbursed for expenses “upon delivery of an itemized voucher to the city manager.” The ordinance that created the slush fund is in conflict with the charter provision that requires receipts.

Besides, charter amendments require the approval of voters — and what Tamarac voter in his or her right mind would ever vote for this?

For a number of reasons, Tamarac City Hall needs fixing. The best place to start is by repealing the “fixed expense account,” followed by apologies from its supporters to city residents. Take our advice, commissioners. Repeal and repent.

The Sun Sentinel Editorial Board consists of Editorial Page Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Editorial Page Editor Dan Sweeney and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. Editorials are the opinion of the Board and written by one of its members or a designee. To contact us, send an email to letters@sun-sentinel.com.