As budget looms, Commissioner asks to login to financial software

The City of Winter Springs did not move forward with a commissioner’s request to have access to the city’s accounting software ahead of the budget season. 

Winter Springs is in the final stages of preparing a 2025-26 budget, and a draft budget is expected to be ready July 1. Staff would have one-on-one meetings with commissioners the week of July 9, and its first public workshop on the budget is planned for July 14. 

With that backdrop, City Commissioner Paul Diaz asked commissioners for consensus to have access to the city’s accounting software – asking the city attorney if that was a possibility during Monday night’s meeting. 

“We’re about to go into (budget) conversations in the very near future, and we’re all working off a different set of facts,” Diaz said. “We’re not being given the information to set policy. Especially if we’re about to ask our residents for a tax increase.” 

Other commissioners, though, balked at the idea of giving commissioners access to the accounting software, citing sensitive data that could be accessed. At one point, Mayor Kevin McCann had to hit his gavel to stop commissioner Diaz and Commissioner Cade Resnick from arguing back and forth. 

“I understand wanting transparency,” Resnick later said. “But I want us as a body to understand the unintended consequences of what we’re doing. … If it comes to asking to access for software, that’s where I draw the line.”

Winter Springs City Attorney Anthony Garganese said there would need to be some “safeguards” in place to avoid inadvertent disclosure of things like social security numbers. It could be hard-copy reports, Garganese added.  

“There [is] sensitive information, confidential information that may need to be redacted,” Garganese said. “The general financial information in a read-only format? I don’t see any issue with the commission having access to that information.”

City Manager Kevin Sweet said they were not “hiding anything.”

“At the level of that request, I’ve never seen in my entire career,” Sweet said. “I’ve certainly never seen access of elected officials to the city’s financial software.”

Ultimately, Diaz settled on asking three reports regularly: Monthly trial balance reports, budget-to-actual reports, and fund balance reports for all the city’s funds. He asked for all those reports at least quarterly, if not monthly while the budget cycle is preparing.

“You guys can’t blame me for asking for a lot,” Diaz said. “Yes, I shot for the stars and asked for logins.”

The meetings to set the final budget would be Sept. 8 and Sept. 22. Watch Monday’s Winter Springs meeting here. 

Additionally, the city of Winter Springs:

1. Adopted new city commission districts for upcoming elections. The changes, which can be seen here, don’t move any sitting commissioners into new districts, but do change which districts some residents would be in. Members for the Winter Springs Commission must live within the district, but all elections are done city-wide, meaning all residents vote in all city contests. 
2. Approved a grant-funded project to clear debris and sediment from nine creek-roadway crossing locations throughout the City of Winter Springs. The roadway crossings are located along Sheoah Creek, Gee Creek, and Howell Creek.
3. Approved a right-of-way vacate for the planned Ace Hardware and Chick-fil-A in the Winter Springs Town Center. The approvals were routine, but are not the final approval for the projects.