South Florida Water Management District spends tax dollars at lavish resorts

[seafan]

South Florida Water Management District spends tax dollars at lavish resorts

By MEGAN O'MATZ and ANDY REID
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
February 14, 2008

South Florida's top water managers, advisers and staff have spent more than $219,000 in five years on overnight meetings at resorts from Key Largo to Walt Disney World, billing the public for rooms and receptions, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has found.
Trips by board members and employees of the South Florida Water Management District include stays at the Ritz-Carlton and at other luxury hotels as close as seven miles from their homes, a review of travel invoices and expense records show.
Today, the district's nine-member board will consider a policy that would reduce spending on meetings outside the agency's West Palm Beach headquarters. The move comes after questions by the newspaper about the trips.

.....

Current district travel policy provides general rules on how much employees can receive for mileage, meals and other expenses while on agency business. For example, the policy stipulates that the district should pay no more than $200 per night for a hotel room, unless otherwise authorized. The Sun-Sentinel found the agency exceeded that amount at least a dozen times, and in one case created a paper trail to justify spending more after the fact.

"Make up something good," Sherry Loy, an employee processing expenses for a 2005 governing board meeting at the gated Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, wrote, asking a colleague for "an official looking e-mail" explaining why the district spent $249 per night for 15 rooms.

Loy declined to comment Wednesday.

.....

• More than $125,000 on luxury hotel rooms for trips involving three to 50 people. The district paid $342 each for 27 rooms for a February 2006 board meeting near Fort Myers at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point Resort and Spa, which boasts "pools, waterslides, golf ... tennis, climbing wall," and "gooey treats around the firepit." The tab included a $400 "porterage" fee of "40 x $10," according to the hotel voucher. The district said the charge was for delivering "meeting materials and equipment."

.....

• More than $55,000 for meals and receptions, including a $3,642 reception in June at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando. The menu included mini beef Wellington, firecracker shrimp, a "fresh fruit spectacular" and spring rolls with duck sauce. An agency spokesman said the district "uses occasional and modest receptions to facilitate community outreach and local constituent interactions."

.....

• More than $5,300 on refreshments, including $456 for 12 dozen gourmet cookies (or $38 a dozen) and $330 for tea and coffee for the board's April 2007 meeting at the PGA National Resort and Spa in Palm Beach Gardens, about 16 miles from district headquarters.

• More than $2,600 for hotel rooms no one occupied. The Key Largo Bay Marriott Resort charged the district $695 for five "no-shows" in November. The district said no-show charges occur "as a result of last-minute schedule changes that cannot be avoided."

Board members are appointed by the governor and are unpaid.

"We are volunteering our time," board member Nicolás J. Gutiérrez Jr. said Wednesday. "Nobody is enriching themselves. ... It's more of a sacrifice."

.....

(Much more infuriating detail in the article)



And, isn't it nice that the Water Management District's Executive Director Carol Ann Wehle received a nice $15,000 raise last month, when people in every corner of Florida are struggling to make ends meet with severe water shortages/restrictions after the Water Management District decided to drain much more of an already historically low Lake Okeechobee, in planning for the next hurricane season.

January 09, 2008

Despite statewide budget belt-tightening, South Florida's top water management official got a $15,000 raise on Tuesday.

The South Florida Water Management District governing board gave the agency's executive director, Carol Ann Wehle, an 8 percent raise. That boosted her salary to $202,820.

Wehle oversees a 1,700-employee agency with a $1.3 billion budget that manages water supplies from Orlando to the Keys.

Governing Board Chairman Eric Buermann said the raise was standard for district employees rated 'highly effective' during their annual evaluations.

The board handles Wehle's evaluation.

Governing board member Patrick Rooney said Wehle deserved the raise because of her duties overseeing a district that covers 16 counties and to put her salary on par with county administrators and other government officials.

'It's ridiculous that this position is not paid more,' Rooney said.

.....

Words are inadequate to describe these people.

[ixion]

1. I worked a contract for these folks

that place is like a taxpayer-funded country club. No one does any work, so they have to contract everything out to those of us who can.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. I have a very personal story that can prove that they're not doing their

jobs. If you all know a DUer who works these stories, send him my way.