Weeki Wachee funding withheld

The state is still withhold funding from Weeki Wachee because of an unresolved dispute years ago concerning financial paperwork that officials never filed.

But the city's attorney, Joe Mason, said that amount — $717 thus far — is nothing compared to the $25,000 to $30,000 it would cost to produce the necessary documents.

"We're talking about a pittance on an annual basis compared to thousands that the city would have to pay for an auditor to produce these documents," Mason said. "At $30,000, we're certainly not going to spend that money when we don't think we have to and — we couldn't afford it anyway."

In 2008, the Southwest Florida Water Management District approved Weeki Wachee Springs as a state park. Mason said that meant the city owned the park but didn't operate it.

Before that, Mason said, the city and state were in disagreement about whether the city was required to file an annual financial report with the state. Mason argued that the city — with a population of 12, according to the 2010 U.S. Census — didn't bring in enough money to be required to do so.

But once park operations were transferred to the state, Mason said it became a moot issue. Or so he thought.

Instead, since 2009, the Joint Legislative Auditing Committee has kept the city on the "non-filers" list of municipalities that fail to file financial reports.

Also following the state park designation in 2008, state lawmakers approved eliminating the taxpayer burden for the Weeki Wachee city charter — setting the city's tax rate at .001. Before then, taxpayers were paying an estimated $45,000 to the city.

With so little money coming in, Mason said he doubts city officials will challenge its designation as a non-filer municipality — not if it means spending money.

"The funding was never anything that amounted to a hill of beans," Mason said. "If we are losing a few bucks in state funding, it's not enough to be worth trying to win the argument — not if we have to hire a CPA to do the financial audit."