Rep. Randy Fine seeks special state audit of Melbourne's city finances

Florida Today

Florida Rep. Randy Fine on Thursday plans to make a formal request to the state’s Joint Legislative Auditing Committee for a special audit of the city of Melbourne.

Fine, a South Brevard Republican, made a similar state audit request for Palm Bay in November 2017 — not necessarily because he suspected any shenanigans, but rather to address concerns that were raised by constituents.

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The call for the city of Melbourne audit is more specific, and involves embezzlement charges against former West Melbourne Deputy Mayor John Tice, who was the executive director of the Liberty Bell Memorial Museum in Melbourne from May 2013 until his termination in February 2016.

The Liberty Bell Memorial Museum is operated by Honor America, a struggling nonprofit that traditionally organizes Melbourne’s Veterans Day and Fourth of July parades.

Former Melbourne City Councilwoman Betty Moore — who was Honor America's president at the time — closed the Oak Street patriotic museum in November 2017, citing fiscal woes and a staffing shortfall amid the ongoing criminal investigation.

Investigators say $7,000 in city of Melbourne funds was intended for the museum, but instead were allegedly spent by Tice on Miami Dolphins season tickets, pro football memorabilia, restaurants and personal debt.

“In the aftermath of former West Melbourne Deputy Mayor John Tice’s arrest for embezzling $7,000 city of Melbourne tax dollars, we need to understand exactly how those tax dollars could end up vulnerable to embezzlement," Fine said in a statement released Wednesday.

Former West Melbourne Deputy Mayor John Tice, who was the executive director of the Liberty Bell Memorial Museum in Melbourne from May 2013 until his termination in February 2016, faces charges of embezzlement related to City of Melbourne funds intended for the museum.

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"Based on the documents I have been provided by Melbourne Councilman Paul Alfrey, who has worked tirelessly on this issue, it appears that a sitting councilwoman made a motion to grant taxpayer dollars to a charity she personally ran, based on claims of matching funds that did not exist, for a project that never happened," Fine added. "Fake invoices were generated, and money intended for one purpose was laundered for another. My taxpaying constituents are owed answers about how tax dollars could be used in this way via an outside, independent audit. We need to make sure people are held accountable, and it never happens again."

Fine, who is starting a second two-year term as a state representative, isn't stopping there.

He said at the request of Melbourne City Councilman Tim Thomas, he wants the state to audit two Melbourne community redevelopment agencies.

There has been some criticism of funds used by the Downtown Melbourne CRA and Olde Eau Gallie CRA, alleging the CRAs "improperly used" about $684,500 of city and county money for festival expenses.

Thomas isn't allegedly any wrong doing, per se, but he sees a disagreement between the city and the county legal staffs over if the funds were" properly distributed.

"What I want out of this is to make sure the City of Melbourne is compliance with the statutes and not breaking the law," Thomas said, adding the state's Joint Legislative Auditing Committee "are the subject matter experts" when it comes to CRAs and what's allowed and what isn't.

Fine was a bit stronger in his language when it comes to the Melbourne CRAs.

"These organizations have been using tax dollars — not only from city of Melbourne residents, but from the county at large — that are supposed to be used to eliminate slums and blight to instead sponsor festivals and parties that the county attorney of Brevard County has ruled are illegal. Yet the local politicians continue to act with impunity and continue this apparently-illegal activity. When the local politicians fail to follow the law, I believe we have an obligation to step in."

Price is business editor at FLORIDA TODAY.

Contact Price at 321-242-3658

or wprice@floridatoday.com.

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