Opa-locka officials take stock of city's books in effort to impose better financial controls
MIAMI -- City leaders in Opa-locka say they are course correcting after uncovering $50 million in misused city funds.
Interim City Manager Darvin Williams said poor financial management from a previous regime left the city's books in distress.
"It really gets kind of ugly," he said, adding that previous city officials failed to complete financial audits from 2014 to 2017 and the city has not completed a financial audit on time in the years since. "We pulled some money out of one account to pay payroll, and nobody tracked it. They acted as if it came from the same bucket and it's all our money and this is cash. Well, you can't do it that way."
The city manager is responsible for something like this going unnoticed. However, neither Williams or the current commission was in office at the time.
Since stepping into this new role, Williams has hired the city's first finance director and procurement officer in several years.
Williams said he is prioritizing long overdue projects that include Cairo Lane and flooding issues in residential and commercial areas throughout the city.
Williams said clay pipes built in the 1970s are still in operation today, so the surplus will be used to address water and sewer issues.
"It is a process of putting structures and checks and balances in place so that we know that we are spending the taxpayer money judiciously," Williams said, adding that city commissioners are key in doing that. "It's important who the residents elect and with this current mayor and commission you really see a commission that is pushing to move this city forward."
As of Wednesday, Williams is set to complete three audits of the city's finances by December. That would put Opa-locka on track to be up to date and on time with audits for the first time in almost 10 years.
As of right now, the city has found a $17 million surplus but there's still a lot of work left to be done.
The first priority is the restoration of historic city hall which is set to be completed by October.
Williams says the city was able to establish a $15-an-hour minimum wage, the first established minimum wage in the city's history.
He said the city provided all union employees with multi-year raises; the first raises received in 14 years. Police officer wages also increased by $10,000 a year, Williams said.
