Oops! Redacted Hallandale Beach Transactions Were Taken From Wrong Accounts

By Stefan Kamph Tue., Mar. 22 2011 at 12:11 PM

Welcome to the land of petty intrigue.

Well, that's a relief. Good to know that the City of Hallandale Beach wasn't covering up some massive intrigue when it covered up charitable contributions in public records with no explanation. No, they were just covering up a good old blunder: taking money from the wrong bank account.

When Dr. Judy Selz got a copy in February of the information she had requested under public-records law about the city's charitable contributions, there were several disconcerting black lines drawn through a few of the line items. Who had been paid? And for how much? And had there been money coming into the account? There was no way of knowing.

Besides which, covering up information in a public-records request without providing an explanation is illegal under state law. So New Times submitted a request for the exact same documents... but we clearly quoted (in italics!) the law prohibiting unexplained redaction.

Worked like magic. If only the results weren't so... well... boring. But what were you expecting from a bank statement?

The big black line at the top of the document we previously showed you was covering up a blooper in which a "CM [City Manager] Approved Donation" for $500.00 (still no indication of the intended recipient). The next line, which was also crossed out, notes that it was "taken from wrong account," and the $500 was redeposited into the general fund account the same day.

Another crossed-out line farther on in the document reveals a "Transfer from 665," which we take to mean that money was deposited into the Community Redevelopment Agency fund from another account. Which, technically, wouldn't have to be included in a public-records request for contributions but... couldn't an explanation have saved a headache? Another redaction on the final page was a transfer out of the account.

Here's the uncovered information, preceded by our lovingly ironclad request letter.
unredacted Hallandale contributions

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Tags:

accountants, bloopers, charity, Hallandale Beach

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Chaz Stevens

I kinda expected these contributions to somehow benefit Mayor Cooper -- who, for those not familiar with her resume, lists herself as a VP of Fisting.

My kind of gal!

R.J. Intindola

One of the basic problems is that the contributions to outside agencies increased more than $700,000 since I left in 2002. This continues to be a method by which Mayor Cooper ingratiates herself with the leaders of many agencies that for the most part provide little to zero services for Hallandale residents. I am not arbitrarily coming to his defense, but there is little if anything Mark Antonio can do about the Mayor's political commitments for her own ego manic grandstanding. Simply self-interest to continue her reign in office.

She reminds me of Michele Bachmann. Please Hallandale, you must wake up and rid the city of this sickness.http://cmrji.com/blog/2011/03/...

Stevens

But would you have believed their explanation, or would you still have requested unredacted copies?

HIH

It would be really nice if the citizens of Hallandale could read about our concerns and topics like this on an editorial page in our local weekly paper "south Florida sun times". It is my understanding that before the elected city officials began funding the paper with our tax monies we had an editorial page. Now all we get is one sided information from cooper. What a disappointment. How about looking up the word transparent?

ChangeHallandale

Don't think this case of moving funds incorrectly is an exception. It happens often in Hallandale. And its typical of the city to cover up mistakes, in this case with a big black line.

How about continuous improvement, root cause analysis, and internal controls verification?

Is it any wonder that the city's lacks any visible improvement, despite huge increases in taxes and expenditures, debt, and reductions to the city's financial reserves?

Often it isn't the crime that causes problems, but the cover up. And Hallandale is doing a lot of cover up.