One of the most important aspects of my job as Palm Beach County’s independently elected clerk and comptroller is to ensure that your county government tax dollars are properly used. When Palm Beach County receives its 30 percent portion from the sales tax increase that voters recently passed, rest assured that my office will examine and account for every penny that is allocated and spent.
As the official “watchdog” of all county funds, I am constitutionally tasked to provide the necessary “checks and balances” on the county’s budget, revenue and spending. In other words, I hold the public’s funds as a fiduciary by ensuring there is money for budgetary needs, all taxpayer money used is spent legally and that a public purpose exists for the spending of this money. As such, these additional sales tax funds will be deposited into a new, specific fund earmarked just for this purpose. A dedicated staff person will be assigned to monitor the receipts coming in, as well as audit any expenditure from this new fund.
I know your tax dollars are in good hands. We are here to protect and preserve public funds with integrity and accountability. We affirm our commitment to fiduciary best practices through legal, professional and ethical financial standards of excellence. We were the first county government office in the country to be certified by the Centre for Fiduciary Excellence (CEFEX) for our management of county funds and were just certified again for the eighth consecutive year.
You can trust my office will audit every single penny; and, as part of my commitment to transparency, I will annually, or more often, report the use of those funds to you, the taxpayers.
Sharon R. Bock, Esq., Palm Beach County, Clerk & Comptroller
