The Office of the Inspector General released its annual audit of Miami-County Tuesday after finding almost $2.6 million in “questionable costs, losses, damages, and lost revenues” for the 2010-11 fiscal year.
By the same token, the office also found $44 million worth of future savings, prevented loses and restitution. (No word on which category a garage full of stockpiled new cars fits under.)
When compared to past reports, wasting "only" $2.6 million is a huge improvement for the county. In the 2007-08 fiscal year, the OIG found a whopping $33.3 million in waste and fraud. The following year, the number dropped -- but was still $9.1 million.
The report credits two arrests made after investigations by the inspector general's office. Melanie Lyn Davis, who ran a daycare out of her home, defrauded the Section 8 program out of $28,882 when she failed to claim her husband’s income, and the county of more than $50,000 given to run her daycare.
Construction company owner Nelson Ricardo Diaz was arrested after the county discovered he falsified certificates to continue entering into contracts with Miami-Dade.
The Office of the Inspector General was founded and appointed by county commissioners in 1998 in order to independently audit the county’s finances. In that time, according to a release, the OIG has found more than $143.6 million in waste or questionable spending, and subsequent investigations have led to 212 arrests and the indictment of 12 companies.
UPDATE: Court records show charges against Diaz were dropped in 2011 after the successful completion of a deferred prosecution program.