WELAKA, Fla. – The Town of Welaka is expecting to receive a decision this week regarding its request for an extension on a past-due financial audit.
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Jessica Finch, the town’s interim mayor said the town is over 240 days past due on this particular audit.
The outcome of the request could significantly impact the town’s financial future a.
Finch said the state could hold off on giving them grants for a while, or not give them the revenue from the half cent sales tax.
Last week, the town’s attorney Jeremiah Blocker highlighted the severe consequences of non-compliance with state financial regulations, during the special-called town council meeting.
“A lack of control over the finances could lead to sometimes extreme remedies by the state,” Blocker said. “There are examples when the state of Florida has removed the charter or elected officials.”
Finch said the town wouldn’t be in the shape it’s in, if an email from the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee, a committee that oversees government operations, was addressed in October.
On October 29 of last year, a week before Finch took over as interim mayor, JLAC, sent an email to the former mayor of the town and the town’s clerk.
It stated their financial audit and report for fiscal year 2022-2023 were late.
And to avoid state money being withheld from them, they needed to submit the documents by January 15 2025.
Finch said when she took office the first week of November 2024, she wasn’t notified of that letter so nothing was done.
However, she did receive an email from the committee last month, letting her know the committee would take action if the financial reports were not sent to them by the end of February.
“I was shocked to say the very least,” Finch said.
Knowing the timeline to deliver the reports wasn’t feasible, Finch called a special meeting for residents.
Finch also said she recently learned the town experienced the consequences of late audit before, which led them to losing out on nearly $14,000, and that this is the third fiscal year in a row the town is late on sending in audits.
“It may not seem substantial, $14,000 to a municipality that’s larger, but to me and our small budget and over half of our budget comes in from grants, $14,000 is a substantial amount,” she said.
To make sure something like this doesn’t happen again, Welaka has hired an outside firm to investigate the problem.
“But the thing is, is we have lost the public trust,” Finch noted. “And the only way to get the public trust back is to be as transparent as possible.”
Finch said if their request for an extension to submit their audits by the end of March doesn’t get approved, the town of Welaka could see the state withhold grant money as early as April or May.
The town’s former mayor said during a special-called town council meeting last week, that this situation was not his fault.
News4JAX has reached out to the former mayor for further comment and is waiting to hear back.