by bill varian

Times Staff Writer

TAMPA - Hillsborough County is not losing millions of affordable housing federal grant dollars annually after all.

County Internal Performance Auditor Jim Barnes says he spoke too soon in telling some commissioners as much last week.

The county may not be spending all the money it could collect from the feds for affordable housing. But the lost grant money is likely measured in hundreds of thousands of dollars, Clerk of the Circuit Court records show.

"I would say it was a misunderstanding of the financial data he was looking at," said Dan Klein, chief deputy clerk of the court.

Barnes is auditing the county's Affordable Housing Office after it was forced to forfeit $2-million in federal grant money last year, blamed on a missed deadline. That loss remains undisputed.

Barnes thought he had turned up similar annual losses, dating to at least 2004.

But it turns out the auditor looked at spending records for just the first year of the grant award, not the following years. Once the county wins a commitment of federal money, it has several years to spend it.

"You don't build a jail all in one year," Klein said in explanation.

Barnes briefed some commissioners on his initial findings. One, Kevin White, publicly pounced on the seeming revelation.

Now he's not so happy with an auditor so far best known for repeatedly asking for a large raise after just one year on the job.

"I don't like getting briefed on something, or something brought to my attention of such an egregious accusation, if we don't have all of our T's crossed and I's dotted," White said.

Bill Varian can be reached at varian@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3387.

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