Fort Myers Beach finance director to leave April 30; committee reviews emergency funds, FEMA reimbursements

Joanne, the town finance director, told Fort Myers Beach’s finance committee that she will leave her post effective April 30 and that the position will be vacant after May 1 unless filled earlier. "I'll be leaving the town on April 30," she said, and added that the town was interviewing multiple candidates and would name an interim if a permanent hire is not in place.

The committee spent the bulk of its meeting on the director’s financial report, which outlined large emergency expenditures related to recent storms and the town’s cash-flow position while it awaits federal and state reimbursements. The report said the town expects a lost revenue replacement grant of about $7,500,000 and noted a bridge-loan funding mechanism tied to an attached Resolution 2594 that would permit up to $8,000,000 in temporary transfers from the bridge loan fund to the emergency fund.

Why it matters: The town is carrying substantial emergency outlays while FEMA, the Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) and insurers process claims. Committee members said the accounting detail and timing of reimbursements will affect fund balances and cash available for near-term operations and the coming hurricane season.

In the report, Joanne described the bridge-loan/resolution framework: "...this describes in section 2, it describes a loan ... of $8,000,000 of cash from the bridge loan fund to the emergency fund... we definitely need $4,000,000 immediately to be transferred into that fund, but this would allow up to an additional $4,000,000 for a total of $8,000,000 to be transferred in as needed." She said the transfers are intended as temporary cash loans that would be repaid when FEMA and FDEM reimburse the town.

The director said the town also has an insurance claim that could recoup up to $500,000 under a business-loss clause and that an additional $1,000,000 insurance receivable is expected related to temporary town-hall trailers. On outstanding emergency work the report lists roughly $18,300,000 in emergency expenditures to date, of which about $4,180,000 was contribution from the general fund and about $8,600,000 remains as receivables from FEMA and FDEM, according to the director’s accounting summary.

Joanne described deferred inflows on the balance sheet—funding the town expects but cannot count on within the next 60 days—saying, "8,600,000 of that 9,600,000 is expected to be received from FEMA and FDEM... There's also a $1,000,000 receivable that we're expecting to get from our insurance company, but we don't know how long that will be, so I have that included on the deferred inflows as well." She also said cash in the general fund looked favorable at about $3,600,000 and the emergency fund balance was about $1,100,000 as of the statements presented.

Committee members pressed for clarifications in several areas. One member asked whether the town’s insurance policy included lost-business coverage; Joanne confirmed submission of materials to pursue up to $500,000 under that clause but said the town had not yet received a response from the insurer. Another member flagged a suspiciously small line on the budget for sheriff services and asked staff to review account coding; Joanne agreed to follow up.

The director briefed members on ongoing work to convert the town’s financial records to a new accounting system; she said data conversion has been delayed while waiting for the current software provider to produce a quote and complete a discovery process. She said staff were preparing a master funding schedule that maps projects to funding sources and would share it with committee members before her departure.

On audit and timing, Joanne said auditors were waiting for the finalized trial balance and journal entries; she expected fieldwork in May and completion of audited financial statements by the June 30 deadline. She also said a rate study for water and stormwater was beginning and that cash and net position for utility funds had improved after reallocating certain meter-replacement expenses into the emergency fund for FEMA-eligibility considerations.

Formal actions recorded during the meeting were procedural: the committee voted unanimously to approve the March 10 meeting minutes and then unanimously to accept the director’s financial report. No formal vote on Resolution 2594 was recorded in the committee meeting; the director said the resolution had been prepared and described its provisions, but did not state that the committee approved it during this session.

The meeting closed with scheduling discussion for upcoming meetings and with members thanking the finance director for her service. "You've been awesome to work with," one member said. The committee agreed to tentatively keep the May 12 meeting date and to avoid meetings in July.

Ending: The finance director’s departure and the timing of multiple large reimbursements leave the town facing near-term cash-management choices; committee members asked staff to follow up on insurance claims, coding questions, and the new accounting conversion before the next scheduled meeting.