QUINCY, Fla. (WTXL) — Concerns are growing over how taxpayer dollars are being spent in Quincy—and one now city leader is calling for answers.
- The Quincy Community Redevelopment Agency is under investigation for financial mismanagement.
- An auditor has been hired to assist with the investigation.
- Watch the video below to hear what one city leader says about accountability.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Tracking the dollars tied to the Quincy Community Redevelopment Agency
"How those dollars are spent, the taxpayers need to hold the CRA accountable," City of Quincy Commissioner Lane Stephens said.
I'm Lentheus Chaney in the Quincy neighborhood—where one city leader says it's time for the Community Redevelopment Agency to return to its original purpose.
ABC27 first reported last week that the Quincy CRA—the city's Community Redevelopment Agency—is facing a multi-level investigation into possible financial mismanagement.
The investigation is being led by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, with a focus on how CRA funds have been used.
The CRA was established in 1998 to eliminate blight, boost the tax base, and revitalize the south side of Highway 90.
It is funded through tax increment financing, which uses a portion of local property tax growth to reinvest in the community.
It offers grants to help small businesses improve their buildings—an initiative that's given local owners a financial boost.
But Commissioner Lane Stephens says that the program hasn't always been properly tracked.
"During the summer of 2024, the CRA gave out about a dozen—10 or a dozen—grants in the $10,000 apiece neighborhood to businesses downtown. As a part of that process, those businesses were supposed to report back to the CRA board on how they used those funds. Since I've been on board, we've been trying to get that information, and very few of those businesses have come forward and told us how they spent those dollars," Stephens said.
The CRA has also supported projects like downtown beautification, parking lot upgrades, façade grants, and housing rehab for low-income residents.
Commissioner Stephens says he'd like to see a shift in priorities.
"I think, in my opinion, the focus has been too much on rehabbing homes, and it needs to shift more towards a more global picture of removing blight," Stephens said.
As for what's next in the investigation, commissioners have hired an auditor to help with getting requested documents.
Stephens says investigators are looking at both internal and external practices.
ABC27 has reached out to FDLE for more information on the investigation; our requests for information have gone unanswered.
I'm Lentheus Chaney, ABC27.
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