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EDITORIAL Why Miami Beach City Attorney Jose Smith would be rid of magistrate
April 1, 2013 By David Arthur Walters MIAMI BEACHCity of Miami Beach officials have discounted or written off what is believed to be millions of dollars in fees and fines over the last few years. The exact amount has not been ascertained because the city does not regularly account for the uncollected funds as required by the generally accepted accounting principle that activities which have a material impact on an entitys finances should be regularly accounted for and reported. Law enforcement officials were interested in what David Weston, a former fire inspector, had to say about building permit fee discounts and uncharged permit fees. Weston believes he was fired on the pretext of trumped up ethics charges for reporting and insisting on the collection of what he called missing monies allegedly amounting to millions of dollars. However, no charges were brought against any officials because it was determined that they have the discretion to reduce or not collect building permit fees under the general authority of the city manager, and that such largesse is not technically a crime even when corruption is suspected. A controversy erupted in the summer of 2012 between the city attorney and special masters, quasi-judicial magistrates responsible for hearing certain code and ordinance violation cases to assess fines
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