Deltona, FL - A committee formed in response to Governor Ron DeSantis cutting $200,000 from the state budget that was meant for a water study on Deltona's water utility met for the first time last night.
The Citizen Water Committee is led by Representative David Santiago and includes Tim Coll, Valerie Vadney and Dana McCool, President of Deltona Strong, a grassroots group pushing for an audit of Deltona Water.
Deltona Mayor Heidi Herzberg said the audit will be for best practices and operations. She said Representative Santiago is the person who requested the $200,000 for the water study be put in the budget. When the funds were cut, she said that she still wanted the water audit to happen. Herzberg said the best way to do the study is by using a third party, which is the reason for the Citizen Water Committee.
The funding for the study is coming out of the Water Department's budget. The Citizen Water Committee would look determine the scope of the audit and study then go through the City's procurement process to put it out to bid. The results would be presented at a City Commission meeting so that Commissioners and Deltona residents could hear the results.
Herzberg said the goal is to have the audit completed by the end of this year.
