Operating concerns lead to audit of Twin Rivers Golf Club

Following concerns about possible mismanagement surrounding personnel and operating expenses at Twin Rivers Golf Club, the Oviedo City Council agreed to an independent investigation and audit of the course’s management company. 

At its Feb. 16 meeting, the City Council voted 4-1 to approve the initial phase of the investigation into Down To Earth Golf/SSS Twin Rivers Opco LLC, which manages the course. Audit firm Forvis Mazars will conduct the audit at a cost of $20,000. Councilmember Jeff Boddiford was the only vote against it. 

This process will determine whether a deeper audit, with an additional cost, is necessary. The $20,000 will come from the city’s golf course fund reserve account.

“They’re going to look at where might we find inefficiencies if we looked closer,” Mayor Megan Sladek said. 

“This is not an unusual thing to do when you have questions of impropriety,” she said. “You go do the research.”

The city expects the golf course to break even, though it does fluctuate between being profitable and not, according to a Twin Rivers course fund budget memo. The adopted 2025-26 budget shows nearly $140,000 in a reserve fund for contingencies. The memo also states that “the City intends to continue the golf course operation, however, if the operation is not financially feasible, the City may convert it to park land and open space.”

Chuluota resident Michael Varley was filmed by Councilmember Keith Britton during a Jan. 23 meeting held by Sladek at the golf course, speaking about the business of Twin Rivers, according to a public records request for the recording. He initially raised his concerns to Sladek in December.

In the video, Varley said he went to the city to inquire about building a Trackman driving range system at Twin Rivers, after which he looked through financial documents for the golf course. It was in those that he said he found potential discrepancies. 

“In the [profit and loss] statement, it states that the management company is responsible for paying for all of their insurance — liability, workman’s comp — at their own cost,” he said in the video. He found that the city, not the course, had actually been paying for the insurance, though. “Right at the beginning of the statement, [Down to Earth] billed the city $63,000 for insurance that they were supposed to pay for. And the city paid it.

“That’s what started it, and then there were several other red flags.”

The city approved the purchase of the formerly private golf course in March 2017, the stated purpose of which was “to protect the area of the golf course located within the floodplains of the Little and Big Econlockhatchee Rivers and prevent a proposed residential development,” according to the meeting agenda. In the same 2017 meeting, the City Council approved having Down to Earth manage the course. 

Since the purchase, while the golf course has been audited as part of Oviedo’s annual comprehensive financial report, a separate course-only audit has never been done. 

“It doesn’t hurt to take a look,” Councilmember Natalie Teuchert said.

This “forensic engagement audit” is a deep dive into specific transactions and departments, done to detect any financial irregularities that may not be discovered in a city’s general financial audit. 

“While staff has been able to work through many of the accounting issues, the operational concerns remain,” the Feb. 16 agenda reads. “As such, the subject Forensic Engagement [sic] was needed to determine the validity of the operational issues and any accounting issues that may remain.”

The forensic engagement will include preliminary interviews and inspection of documents before deciding how to proceed. 

Fovis Mazar estimates the initial phase could last about three to four weeks, though it could last longer depending on scheduling. Cobb said because the city’s contract with Down to Earth is on automatic renewal and would require 90 days notice to cancel, “time is of the essence” to move forward with the process. The contract renews each November.

“I think it’s a fair thing to look into and make sure what they’re doing is right,” Teuchert said. “We don’t run several golf courses; we have one, and we don’t really know a good comparison, and it’s a good idea to get a second set of eyes on it. … We’re one of the few cities that actually makes money off of its golf course.”