Fort Myers Beach audit committee hears finance director on ARPA swap, jet‑vac purchase and town‑hall reimbursements

At a Fort Myers Beach Audit Committee meeting, Finance Director Joe Anczyk outlined current grant, loan and recovery work including an ARPA/insurance funding swap for a $1,000,000 grant for the Bay Oaks Recreational Campus, a planned purchase of a jet‑vac machine to clean storm‑water drains, and reimbursement work tied to state and federal disaster programs.

Anczyk said the $1,000,000 grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for Bay Oaks was originally planned to use a $1,000,000 ARPA match, but the town likely would not have a signed contract by the Dec. 31 deadline required to treat the ARPA money as obligated. "The last meeting in December the town council approved to have an alternate funding source for that $1,000,000 rather than ARPA and that would be the swap out, insurance proceeds," Anczyk said. He added the DEP grant expires Aug. 31 and the town is “under pressure to get this completed by August 31st in order to utilize that grant.”

Anczyk described ongoing work assembling documentation for FDEM and FEMA reimbursement reviews for emergency expenditures incurred during last year’s storms, and said finance staff are supporting contract preparation in the absence of a dedicated procurement manager. He reported team members are continuing year‑end reconciliations and work on unavailable and unearned revenue calculations.

On ARPA and other payments, Anczyk listed several items moved into ARPA or covered by insurance proceeds: about $720,000 for a property adjacent to the new town hall, roughly $140,000 for elevator repairs, $140,000 for painting and carpeting, $47,500 for replacement palm trees at Times Square, $648,000 toward a jet‑vac machine to clean storm‑water drains, $55,000 for plans produced by DRMP for the Bay Oaks campus, truck replacement for public works, and $72,000 for landscaping required by the land development code at the north water tower. He said the jet‑vac will allow the town to do preventive drain maintenance in‑house rather than hire a contractor charging about $350 per hour.

Anczyk reported the state revolving loan program for storm water has had $11,300,000 drawn down to date, leaving $8,900,000 available. He also said the bridge loan draw for FY23 has been fully drawn; the FY24 estimated drawdown is now expected to be about $2,400,000 rather than the $3,500,000 originally budgeted, and the town still has a budgeted $2,900,000 of lost revenue projected for FY25 but that may be lower depending on FY24 performance.

On the new town hall, Anczyk said the town received an $8,000,000 state grant and has been fully reimbursed for the project: "We received the $8,000,000 from the state as a grant, to purchase the new town hall... so now we've actually been fully reimbursed by that $8,000,000," he said. He and other speakers discussed elevator repairs delaying a full move‑in; staff said they expect the first floor to be open and mentioned a conservative target of late February for broader occupancy, contingent on elevator repairs and ADA compliance.

Anczyk also described a state revenue replacement grant referenced in the meeting as "$7,000,000 547,805 revenue replacement grant from the state," saying town council approved the plan to use those funds to repay the bridge loan and to let the funds earn interest until the loan is due roughly nine years from now. He said the town’s current banking arrangement is providing near‑5% interest on deposits.

On the town’s short‑term finances, Anczyk presented balance‑sheet and cash‑flow snapshots showing a favorable combined variance of roughly $1,300,000 (about $656,000 in expense savings and about $665,000 in additional revenue through the first two months he reviewed). He noted an American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fund balance showed a negative $1,000,000 on paper because the Bay Oaks grant revenue remains unearned until expenditures occur; similarly, the TDC beach‑access reimbursement fund shows a negative cash position until reimbursements are received.

Staffing shortfalls also surfaced in discussion. Anczyk said vacancies — particularly in public works and procurement — are slowing some operations and contributing to overtime costs: "We're behind in the audit and doing analysis," he said, and added the town recently extended an offer for a senior accountant who is completing background checks. On traffic staffing, he said state law prevents the town from staffing certain traffic signals at the base of the bridge and that, for the next 90 days, the town will need to use the sheriff's department for that location, with town staff deployed at other intersections.

Committee members moved and approved the meeting minutes by voice vote; Barbara Puffer moved to approve the minutes and the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote.

The finance director said the audit remains on track for the June 30 deadline despite the volume of emergency‑expenditure documentation, and that implementation of new finance software is beginning: "We have the contract signed... we received the first questionnaire," he said, and staff are about to start implementation work. The committee set its next meeting for one month out and adjourned.

Ending: The committee will revisit these items at its next meeting; staff said they expect to report additional details on utility billing rates and on procurement/contract staffing at that time.