City auditor issues clean opinion; residents press for independent forensic review
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Summary
An independent audit firm gave the City of Titusville an unmodified opinion on FY2025 financial statements, but public commenters and some council members pressed for a separate forensic audit after an internal review found prolonged asset-tracking problems and missing property dating back decades.
An independent audit by James Moore & Company concluded that the City of Titusville's fiscal year 2025 financial statements were fairly presented in all material respects, the firm told the City Council on March 24.
"We did issue that opinion like in prior years," said Zach Shalfour, partner at James Moore & Company, as he described the firm's financial-statement audit, compliance testing on federal ARPA funds and a state revolving loan, and the separate reports the firm issues under Florida requirements. Shalfour told the council the audit team found no reportable exceptions in the single-audit compliance testing it performed this year.
The auditor also reviewed the city's fund balances and reserves and noted that the city's assigned and unassigned reserves equate to about 15 percent of current-year spending (just under the Government Finance Officers Association's two-month guideline). "When you factor in the committed stabilization and disaster reserve, you get back into the 25 to 30 percent range," Shalfour said.
Despite the clean opinion, public comment at the meeting focused on a separate internal-audit report that identified weak asset-tracking and a set of missing or poorly documented assets. "I'm reporting to you of fraud, fraud and dishonesty by the City of Titusville," said Stan Johnson, a registered professional engineer, in remarks that urged a criminal probe. Keith Edwards, a longtime resident and local business leader, called for a forensic audit and said he wanted "to see some nice shiny bracelets on people that walked away with my tax money." Dr. Kathleen O'Rourke urged an independent review that would be "credible, impartial and thorough enough that the public can trust the results."
City staff told the council the independent audit of historical records found inaccurate record keeping and poor asset management for approximately 30 items dating from about 1970 through 2024, with a cumulative historical value of about $1,200,000 and an estimated residual value today of roughly $80,000. "There's no indication that there was any theft involved," staff said in the presentation of the independent audit's findings, noting that the problem stemmed largely from record-keeping gaps over many decades.
Councilmembers pressed staff for next steps. Council discussion confirmed one employee has been arrested and arraigned in a related matter and that the city is working with the state attorney's office to recover property and restitution. "He's already been arraigned, and it's currently in the court system for prosecution," the city manager said.
Several council members and members of the public asked staff to examine the scope and cost of a citywide forensic financial audit. No formal forensic-audit contract or vote took place at the March 24 meeting; council members asked staff to return with options and cost estimates for possible future action.
Next steps: the auditor and city staff will continue to answer council questions about controls and testing; staff said they will report back on potential forensic-audit scope and cost before any decision is made.
