The head of Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity is calling her agency’s pending audit of Visit Florida “standard”. Governor Rick Scott last month ordered a review of the state’s tourism arm amid concerns over how the agency is spending taxpayer dollars.
DEO head Cissy Proctor says that’s expected for the state’s public private agencies.“What we’re looking at is money going in and how is it being spent", explained Proctor. "Is it being spent to mean that we are leveraging appropriately with private dollars? Nothing triggered the need. It was just, let’s make sure that dollars are being spent correctly.”
Visit Florida is slated to get 78 million taxpayer dollars next fiscal year.
The agency has been criticized for paying for foreign journalists to visit Florida and making celebrity contracts to promote the Florida secret.
Proctor has no clear timeline for when the audit could be completed.