Vero Beach manager fires finance director after missed audit deadline; council votes to accelerate completion

City Manager Monty told the Vero Beach City Council on Feb. 25 that Finance Director Stephen Dion failed to submit or seek an extension for the city27s fiscal year 2023 audit and that Dion27s employment ended on Feb. 20, 2025.

Monty laid out a timeline of staffing changes and disruptions that preceded the missed deadline: the finance director role changed hands in 2023; assistant finance director turnover left the department without senior institutional knowledge; October tornadoes disrupted city operations; and auditors notified the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee the audit could not be completed by the statutory Jan. 15 deadline. Monty said the city will use outside consultants beginning March 5 and promoted Lisa Burnham to interim finance director.

The issue prompted extended council discussion about staffing and the role of the city27s auditors. Vice Mayor Moore said the situation was "incredibly unfortunate and calls to mind something that we brought up at last budget time that has been 1 of my large priorities, which is to increase hiring before situations like this occur so that the people with institutional knowledge ... are not gone." Another council member pressed why the city27s auditing firm, Cherry Becker, did not raise the problem earlier.

The council approved a resolution (5-0) supporting the city manager27s work to complete and submit the overdue 2023 audit and to set a date-certain for the 2024 audit. Monty told council staff will pursue legislative help for an extension; he warned that if no extension is granted, certain grant funds will be held and the city27s half-cent sales tax revenue could be forfeited for up to two months.

Monty said Cherry Becker had been the city27s auditor since 2014; he said the city will consider additional forensic auditing after the primary audit is submitted if warranted.

Council members emphasized corrective steps and longer-term staffing adjustments. Several members said the immediate priority is finishing the audit and preventing recurrence, while also reviewing whether processes or outside oversight failed to escalate the problem earlier.

The council passed the supporting resolution by unanimous roll call; Monty said outside consultant work will begin March 5 and staff will pursue a legislative extension while the audit is completed.

Ending: Monty told council he will report back as audit work progresses and that the city27s interim finance leadership and outside consultants will be focused on delivering the FY2023 report as soon as possible.