Manatee County clerk responds to charge she lost 'millions of taxpayer dollars'
County commission chairman blasted Colonneso for investment loss after she detailed 'grave concerns' about County Administrator Scott Hopes
Kevin Van Ostenbridge, the Manatee County Commission’s chairman, on Saturday defended County Administrator Scott Hopes against a scathing critique from county Clerk and Comptroller Angelina “Angel” Colonneso by ignoring her concerns and accusing Colonneso of playing politics and arguing, without evidence, that her “actions as Clerk … resulted in the loss of millions of taxpayer dollars.”
A day later, Colonneso ignored Van Ostenbridge’s attack — he compared his fellow elected Republican to Joe Biden — and sent him a second letter that focused on her management of the county’s investments. (Read the letter below)
Colonneso explained to Van Ostenbridge how the county in March lost about $1.5 million — about one-tenth of 1 percent of the value of portfolio that the clerk’s office manages.
“In the first quarter of this year, the Florida Local Government Investment Trust (FLGIT) Short Term Bond Fund within our portfolio incurred a loss of $1.5 million. This was due to the nature of the fund which is based on net asset value per share given the current market,” Colonneso wrote in her response to Van Ostenbridge. “As the investment analyst explained to your administrator during our meeting on May 19, 2022, the economic downturn that has taken place this year is unprecedented and the likes of which has not been seen in 100 years. This was not unique to Manatee County. In an effort to prevent further loss in this specific investment fund, we chose to take immediate action and sell the shares in this fund, recognize the loss and reinvest that money in another fund based upon the expectations that rates would rise, which they have.”
Tension between the clerk’s office and the county government administration reached a new high on Friday when Colonneso sent Van Ostenbridge a letter detailing several “grave concerns” about how, among other things, Hopes was responding to public records requests and managing the reorganization of county government departments. Colonneso said she had referred some of her concerns to the county inspector general for further investigation.
Colonneso told the Herald-Tribune on Monday that she chose to “memoralize” her concerns, after the learning the commission was scheduled on Tuesday to consider extending Hopes’ contract and giving him a pay raise
“In my role as comptroller, I saw things happening very fast, very frequently,” Colonneso said.
Earlier, Hopes told the Herald-Tribune he was preparing a detailed rebuttal to Colonneso’s “baseless and inaccurate” letter, that he would present during Tuesday’s commission meeting.
In her second letter to Van Ostenbridge on Sunday, Colonneso wrote that as of April 30, the county has earned about $550,000 on its investments and that is expected to grow to $3 million by the end of the fiscal year.
The clerk’s office, Colonneso added, last year paid to update its investment policy and to have it reviewed by an outside firm.
Colonneso said Hopes has not been receptive to learning about the changes.
“We provided this policy to your county administrator at the end of last year. A number of meetings were scheduled and cancelled by him. We were finally able to meet on May 19, 2022 where he stated that he did not have time to look at the policy,” Colonneso wrote.
You can reach the writer at Marc.R.Masferrer@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter @mrmasferrer. You can also like The Bradenton Journal on Facebook.
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