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City staff explores Clerk of Court partnership to audit merchant‑fee collections
Summary
Budget staff said they met with the Bay County Clerk of Court to explore auditing merchants and improving collection of the city's merchant fee; staff said an interlocal agreement could be returned to the commission if feasible.
Budget staff told the commission they have begun exploring partnerships to improve collection of Panama City's merchant fee after acknowledging the fee has largely operated on an honor system.
Brandy Waldron, the city's budget director (identified in the workshop materials), said she and another staff member met with Clerk of Court Bill Kinsall to discuss whether the clerk could assist with merchant audits and reconcile revenue that the city may be missing. "We were really interested in them helping us maybe be able to audit merchants, to see if we're collecting what we should be collecting for the merchant fee," Waldron said.
Waldron said the city uses the same collection platform as the clerk for some tourism‑related revenues and that the clerk may have mechanisms the city lacks for auditing large merchants and remote sellers. Staff said they would return to the commission with an interlocal agreement if the partnership appears feasible.
If the clerk can assist, staff said the work could identify untapped merchant‑fee revenue—one of several options staff presented to help close the projected FY2027 $4.5 million general‑fund gap. The commission requested a follow‑up report and asked staff to include the audit outcome and any proposed interlocal agreement in the next workshop package.
