Vince Cautero, nominee to head the Citrus County Development Services, has denied allegations of wrongdoing in a Sept. 10 news story by Southwest Florida Online.

In a letter to the editor on Sunday, Cautero sought to set clarify issues that appeared in the news article.

Cautero told the editor that when working in Hendry County that he never told Building and Zoning official Bob Botts what to do. "I have never overruled him on a building code-related issue, as he is the certified official for the county, in accordance with Florida law," Cautero wrote. The publication had alleged that Bott took his marching orders from Cautero, the county's planner, "who is not licensed by the state."

Cautero added, "I (was) the Zoning Administrator for the county and, yes, I have overruled him on a few occasions, since he misinterpreted the Land Development Code on several occasions."

In the article, Collier County Commissioner Frank Halas called Cautero the "darling of the developers, bending or ignoring rules to allow developers to get their wishes," the publication said. Cautero told the editor that "I never worked for Commissioner Frank Halas in Collier County. He was elected after I left. He is entitled to his opinion."

Citrus Daily has confirmed that Halas actually said what was quoted in Southwest Florida Online publication.

Cautero also told the publication he did not have the responsibility of assessing fees for Collier County. "Three members of the Engineering Department were assessing these fees on golf courses. By the way, when confronted about the non-assessed fees, none of them stated they were aware they were supposed to do it, and none lost their jobs. One was even promoted," Cautero wrote.

Collier County impact fees' history

Citrus Daily's research has found that Cautero was in office at the time the Collier County Commission approved TwinEagles Golf and Country Club on Immokalee Road, three miles east of the urban boundary.

The vote came despite environmentalist's concerns about the projects impact on citrus groves, pine flatwoods and wetlands that stood there, Naples Daily News reported on Aug. 18, 2007.

Two of the Collier County commissioners who voted to approve the development, Tim Constantine and John Norris, were also involved in Stadium Naples, another controversial project that was the 1996 brainchild of ESPN founder Bill Rasmussen. The commissioners were accused of extorting thousands of dollars in compensation in exchange for votes to benefit the golf course and other real estate projects. Both were forced out of office in 2000. Cautero was not implicated in Stadium Naples corruption charges, Citrus Daily research has found.

Naples Daily News reported that although no allegations of impropriety have ever been lodged in the TwinEagles golf course project, Cautero, who was Community Development & Environmental Services Division Director, resigned in 2000 following a county audit that revealed that employees of his department who failed to collect $2.4 million in impact fees from golf courses and had gotten free rounds of golf.

Collier County Audit Report 2000-5 noted that "there are several areas in need of improvement concerning the calculation and collection of golf course alternative road impact fees."

An audit investigation noted that three golf courses paid impact fees that were far below what was required, and the amounts they paid was not approved by the County Commission, as required by Collier County regulations. Instead, the audit notes, they were approved by "staff."

TwinEagles Golf Course was due $187,317.52 in road impact fees, but only paid $69,867.52. Vanderbuilt Golf Course should have paid $142,204.40, but only paid $35,723.03. Naples Heritage Golf Course was due $110,000,331, but paid $27,447.

Collectively, those three golf courses should have paid $439,852.92 to the county in impact fees, but the total for the trio was $1,133,037.55 - nearly half of the total due for impact fees to Collier County.

For all golf courses, the impact on the aggregate total of impact fees due the county was also lacking. The total for all golf courses showed $2,345,101.62 should have been paid in impact fees, but only $182,638.36 was paid to the county.

The largest of the golf courses, Naples Grand, wasn't happy with what they owed, but still paid their $147,960.80 in impact fees, albeit under protest, the audit report says.
 
The 2000-5 audit report also says, "The Community Development & Environmental Services Division, within various departments, is responsible for issuing building permits, assessing and collecting impact fees, and reviewing site development plans." The Community Development & Environmental Services Division was headed by Cautero.

Irregularities causing Collier County to receive less in impact fees was not limited to the year 2000.

An audit from September 1996 found that there had been an alternative impact fee calculation that had not been approved by the county commission, an error in the calculation of an impact fee that went undetected, excess credit was granted on a restarted development, invalidated permit numbers were not documented, operating procedures weren't in writing and control of impact fee operations was not centralized.

A May 1998 audit report also examined impact fee revenues, and served as a follow-up to the 1996 report. The report noted that the county generally took corrective actions, but also noted "corrective actions could have been more timely." Even with county progress on the issues, the report says, controls needed to be strengthened.

"The absence of adequate controls may have resulted in the county undercharging some developers as much as $668,000 and overcharging other developers as much as $121,000. In response, county management corrective actions had been taken, but the county disagreed it did not follow the ordinance in applying a new road impact fee."

In the 1998 audit's executive summery, it was noted that the county undercharged developers from $262,452 to $505,882, and overchargied from $56,530 to $121,824 in terms of road impact fees. "We also questioned whether developers were undercharged and additional $162,140," the audit said.
 
Collier County audit report 2001-1, released one year after Cautero's departure, said that "County staff, on numerous occasions, accepted free golf games and other gratuities, such as lunches, from members of the development community. Those accepting gratuities were from all levels of the organization, from County Manager down to line employees." It also noted that the practice slowed, but did not stop, when Collier County Administrator Robert Fernandez. took office
 
The report, however, concluded that there was no evidence of Quid Pro Quo. "Despite the possible appearance of conflict of interest by county staff accepting a gratuity, no evidence has been found that clearly shows preferential treatment has been granted to members of the development community as a result of a gratuity received by a county employee."
 
Cautero will be nominated on Tuesday to the Citrus County Commission as a nominee for Gary Maidhof's former job as head of Development Services.