The Joint Legislative Auditing Committee approved a request to audit the city of Cape Coral on Monday after two Southwest Florida state lawmakers shared concerns in Tallahassee related to the alleged misuse of building department funds.
Rep. Mike Giallombardo (R-Cape Coral) and Sen. Jonathan Martin (R-Fort Myers) allege the city’s building department is breaking state law by using permit money in unauthorized ways.
The audit request comes after the Cape Coral Construction Industry Association shared hundreds of pages of documentation with state lawmakers, they say, that proves the department has been misusing funds.
Florida Statute 553.80 mandates that building department funds be used solely for building code enforcement.
Giallombardo said he believes the city has been using building department funds to cover expenditures on hurricane overtime, fire department expenses, payroll for scanning clerks, a $10 million issue related to a failed building purchase, and nearly $3 million in unexplained fund transfers.
At Monday’s hearing, Giallombardo said financial concerns are just the beginning.
“Contractors, engineers, private providers have documented hundreds of pages of operational failures to include arbitrary rejections, inflated valuations, contradictory requirements, and a permitting system that the building fund helped pay for,” Giallombardo said. “It has never worked correctly. Across the board, we’re seeing a pattern of discriminatory enforcement, inconsistent valuations, operational dysfunction, and financial practices that undermine the intent of Florida law.”
WINK Investigates has exclusively obtained the data Giallombardo cited and is currently reviewing hundreds of pages of documents.
In the meantime, a spokesperson for Cape Coral said in an email the city will fully cooperate with the audit, but did not yet respond to Giallombardo’s claims.