STUART — A previously undisclosed $125,000 theft from the city of Stuart resurfaced during a recent City Commission meeting, prompting calls from officials for greater transparency and a formal public presentation on the incident.
Vice Mayor Sean Reed told fellow board members the loss occurred in 2021 and was not publicly reported at the time.
"Basically, $125,000 in change was stolen from the city of Stuart through a flaw in the Paymentus system and the only reason that the city of Stuart became aware of it seven months later was because a detective in the state of Georgia contacted the city of Stuart to notify them that the money was stolen from them because they had a half a million dollars stolen from them as well. The city never filed an insurance claim. From what I understand, it was a $100,000 deductible," he said.
Reed questioned how the situation was handled once the loss was identified, including whether additional steps should have been taken.
"I just disagree that the public wasn't notified. Should the state of Florida been notified? Should we have pursued legal charges? How does that work for ex-staff that are no longer here? I feel as if they didn't do their job appropriately for the public," he said.
Interim City Manager Roz Strong provided context about how the theft occurred, describing it as part of a broader issue involving the Paymentus system used by municipalities.
"There was a button on there that allows staff to reject a bill pay that doesn't seem to fit the city. The account number doesn't match. A name doesn't match. The thing with that reject button is it automatically reduces funds from the city and just gives it back to the party," she said.
While acknowledging the challenges of recovering the funds, Reed said his main concern was the lack of public awareness about the incident.
"The biggest problem is it went unreported though. I don't think we'll get the money back, the bigger thing is why were the constituents and the residents in the city of Stuart not notified about it," he said.
Strong said staff became aware of the issue relatively quickly but did not disclose details publicly due to an ongoing investigation involving multiple jurisdictions.
"The staff knew within a week that this had actually happened but then we were notified by Fayette County, Georgia in May of 2022 that 'hey, you're one of about eight cities and counties hit by this ring.' Staff did not bring anything forward because it was an active investigation and the protocol in those cases is to only speak to need to know such as law enforcement," she said.
Reed compared the situation to a more recent cyber incident involving the city, noting differences in how information was shared with the public and how insurance claims were handled.
"I know when we had ransomware that was notified to the residents and I believe the only reason it was notified was because it disrupted services to the city residents so the city had no choice but to notify them publicly. They did do an insurance claim for that situation and I believe we were paid $26,000 roughly but we paid the deductible for that. Why was this situation different?," he said.
City Attorney Lee Baggett said the city’s options moving forward are limited, but providing a clearer account of the incident could help address concerns.
"Other than giving a presentation of what happened and like Commissioner Joey said trying to prevent this from happening again. I don't know that there's civil or criminal liability on the city's behalf by doing a presentation on what happened and how we lost $125,000," he said.
Mayor Christopher Collins indicated support for revisiting the matter in a future meeting to provide more clarity.
"I would support a presentation to get everybody up to speed on what happened if it's appropriate," the mayor said.
City officials said the issue will be discussed in greater detail at a future meeting.