Editor’s Note: On April 3, after this week’s issue went to press, the Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Committee staff confirmed Vero Beach was not granted a reprieve from financial enforcement actions: “No extension has been authorized. We will not send any correspondence regarding the end of the 30-day grace period.”
The city’s negotiating team that went to Tallahassee last week to seek more time for Vero to file its still-missing fiscal year 2022-23 audited financials without forfeiting state funds appears to have come up empty handed.
“There’s been no extension,” Florida Joint Legislative Auditing Committee staff confirmed by email March 27 after Mayor John Cotugno, City Manager Monte Falls and City Attorney John Turner met with the committee’s Senate co-chair March 25 pleading for a stay on enforcement penalties and further loss of state funding…