Letter from LWB Finance Director

Christopher McVoy
Commissioner, District 2
City of Lake Worth Beach, FL
cmcvoy@lakeworthbeachfl.gov
561.398.6115 (C)

On Feb 12, 2026, at 12:12 PM, Yannick Ngendahayo wrote:

Hi Commissioner McVoy,

Happy New Year to you as well! I apologize for the delay in getting back to you; we have been incredibly busy with the audit, new ERP implementation, and budget preparations, to say the least. I was able to gather the information you requested from our financial advisors in a draft form (please see the attached document).

I'm pleased to report that we are definitely better off compared to prior years. Using your rating scale, I would say the City is able to pay its bills, provided that property taxes and transfers/franchise fees from utilities are not adversely affected by upcoming legislation bills. It’s also important to note that the penny sales tax ended in December 2025, which impacts future CIP projects that would have to rely on other funding sources.

Thanks,

Yannick Ngendahayo
Finance Director| Financial Services

City of Lake Worth Beach
7 North DixieHighway
Lake Worth Beach, FL 33460
V: 561-533-7309 yngendahayo@lakeworthbeachfl.gov
www.lakeworthbeachfl.gov

Afghanistan's former Finance Mininster now a Uber driver in U.S.

If This Metro DC Uber Driver Looks Familiar, It's Because He Had a Prestigious Job Before Biden Came Along

Khalid Payenda, who fled Afghanistan for fear of becoming a political victim as the nation fell to the Taliban, now lives in Woodbridge, Virginia, and makes his living as an Uber driver.

Read this sad story about Khalid. At least he has a job in a free country, a country that sloppily (and that's being kind) exited Afghanistan and left its people in peril. There has to be a lot of mixed feelings there for him.

Lake Worth (Beach) is broke

Blaming it on added expenses because of the coronavirus (according to the city manager), the entire commission voted to borrow $10 to $20 million to keep the city afloat.

The reasons to borrow:
(a) The City faces an unprecedented and temporary strain on its finances due to the financial impacts of the COVID -19 pandemic.
(b) It is vital to the citizens of the City that basic city services continue to be provided.
(c) The City desires to incur short-term Obligations to continue to fund essential City services as a “Project” vital to the needs of citizens of the City.

Commissioner Hardy interjected BS politics into the meeting when he said, that like businesses and individuals, state and local governments are in fierce need of their own stimulus. He criticized Florida Sen. Rick Scott for “politicizing” requests from states seeking federal help for coronavirus relief. "The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $3 trillion aid package on May 15 to help state and local governments, but its been dismissed by the Republican-controlled Senate," he said.

Then the Palm Beach Post thought it was a good idea to mention the political party of a few of our commissioners even though this is supposed to be a non-partisan commission. Of course, we know it isn't...not with Robinson and especially Hardy on the dais. But then there is Maxwell who approves of spending and spending more and more and getting us deeper in debt which is not a Republican trait.

Read about it...

Let's figure out how to cut spending instead of more debt. And please explain how we will pay this money back.

Finance Director, Bruce Miller

Employment Agreement

This is the man who will keep us out of trouble. Well, that's the idea.

New Finance Director - Lake Worth

Well, it's about time.

Lake Worth recently hired Bruce Miller, the former finance director of Annapolis who resigned there on May 7 right in the middle of early budget deliberations. It seems that their Mayor proposed a $120 million spending plan for 2019. This amounted to a 20 percent increase in the rate.  They wanted to spend, spend and spend some more.

Mr. Miller was the third senior employee at Annapolis to resign since this tax and spend Mayor took office. Former City Manager, Tom Andrews resigned earlier this year. And Chief of Staff Jane Hruska resigned in April.

Good luck Mr. Miller. You will soon find out this city is as screwed up as any other. You  probably found that out last night.

As a side, I agree with Commissioner Maxwell. We don 't need to spend $250,000, a ridiculous amount of money, on a bus stop at our beach and I don't care where the money might come from.

Finance Director Lake Worth Resigns

PRESS RELEASE
FOR RELEASE UPON RECEIPT
CITY OF LAKE WORTH
7 NORTH DIXIE HIGHWAY
LAKE WORTH, FL 33460
LAKEWORTH.ORG

December 1, 2017

Contact: Ben Kerr, Public Information Officer
Phone: 561.586.1631
Email: bkerr@lakeworth.org

Resignation of Marie Elianor, City of Lake Worth Director of Finance

Marie Elianor, the Director of Finance for the City of Lake Worth has tendered her resignation with the City, effective December 15. Marie has served as the Director of Finance since February 2016, and during her tenure with Lake Worth, the Finance Department has celebrated multiple successes thanks to her leadership.

In Marie’s time with the City, the Finance Department has received multiple awards and under her direction has seen significant operational improvements. In September the department was awarded a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association. The same organization in May presented the department with a Distinguished Budget Award. In preparation for the Neighborhood Road Program Marie and her team were able to work with credit rating agencies to achieve a very strong credit rate for the City which reduced the interest liability and lowered the amount of additional taxes residents faced for the bond program. Throughout her time in the City she has worked to develop the Finance department into a professional and transparent asset for the City.

Marie has been offered and has accepted the position of Finance Director for Cooper City, where she currently resides.

“Marie has been instrumental in helping the Finance department and the city organization get to the next level. I empathize with her desire to focus on the next stage of her career closer to home. I am grateful to have worked with Marie and expect many good things in her future.” ~City Manager Michael Bornstein

“I love the City and although my time with the City has been shorter than I had planned, I hope my contributions have been impactful. It has truly been a pleasure to serve the City.” ~Lake Worth Finance Director, Marie Elianor.

Please contact Ben Kerr, the City of Lake Worth Public Information Officer with any questions or comments.

Lake Worth hires Finance Director

Comment Up

March 8, 2016

The City of Lake Worth is pleased to announce the appointment of Finance Director, Marie Elianor. Marie is an experienced Florida leader who has worked her entire career at various local and county governments and she’s excited to continue her work in Lake Worth. For Marie, the new position brings new challenges and new opportunities.

Click here to meet Marie Elianor.

Experience (copied from LinkedIn)

Director of Financial Services

City of Lauderdale Lakes

July 2011 – Present (4 years 9 months)

As Director of Financial Services I develop policy using professional managerial knowledge. I also exercise a high degree of initiative in directing the City’s Financial Services Department. I develop, implement, supervise and maintain the financial management system providing accountability to the City's stakeholders and ensuring compliance with local, state and federal laws. I oversee the financial operation of the City by directing functions of accounting, budgeting, investing, purchasing, information technology and treasury and debt management. I am responsible for preparing the annual operating and capital improvement budgets, financial planning documents, audited financial statements, and internal and external financial reports. I developed and implemented the 5 Year Financial Plan which is leading to the financial recovery of the City. I supervisor nine (9) full-time employees ranging from senior managerial to professional level.

Read the audited Financial Reports for Lauderdale Lakes for year ended September 30, 2014
A very interesting read.

Click here to read about her qualifications, salary and benefits with the City of Lake Worth.

"Lake Worth is "dysfunctional" says City Manager Bornstein

Comment Up
“This environment can be very tough and caustic and it takes a unique person to deal with that. It’s common knowledge Lake Worth has a lot of issues that make it dysfunctional and it takes time to fix that.”

 ~ Michael Bornstein
City Manager of Lake Worth

talking about the firing of his latest Finance Director.

Mr. Bornstein has had 3.5 years to get this city functional. His idea of  getting the city "functional" is his attempt to have the voters pass the general obligation bond that would have had property owners in debt for 34 years, going against the Heights Charter Amendment by not codifying the win with Tallahassee and going into a secret ITN process to negotiate away our casino complex/beach. And it is he who hired the last two financial directors.

Recently terminated Finance director, Nerahoo Hemraj, was certainly qualified--
EDUCATION:

• Master of Science in accounting with Distinction, Long Island University, June 1983

• Master of Business Administration, Long Island University, February 1978

• Bachelor of Science to Accounting/finance, Long Island University, June 1977

• Associate of Applied Science in accounting/MIS, NYC Community college, January 1975

Read the PBPost article

Here today; Gone tomorrow

Comment Up
UPDATE: resignation letter received @2:33pm  See below
also see the PBPOST ARTICLE that came out at 1:02pm

No sooner is a finance director hired, they are fired or they see the light? No one can find any meaningful information in our Budgets...you have to hunt for it and then you just never know if the figures are correct as mentioned during the budget process. The external auditors depend on information given to them from the specific departments. Ultimately, the finance director is responsible for correct projections and correct numbers for the audit. But overall, the buck stops with the city manager.

Nerahoo Hemraj started his employ with the City of Lake Worth on February 2, 2015.
He "resigned" (actually he was terminated) on October 30, 2015. I have requested a copy of his resignation letter. Once received, it will be posted.
 UPDATE: Resignation letter

Prior to Mr. Hemraj, Steve Carr filled in as interim finance director after Douglas Wood went missing in the middle of the night.

Douglas Wood was hired on January 30, 2014.
He was terminated in July 2014. Was he fired because he revealed the true cost of the General obligation bond money grab.?

They don't last long in the City of Lake Worth and you have to wonder what is going on.

Tonight's Budget Workshop

Tonight we listen to staff talk more on the budget regarding Refuse, Stormwater, Road Improvement Funds as well as a recap of the General Fund for the proposed 2016 Budget. There is no back-up--too large the city says but you can Click here for the draft 2016 budget.

It is still difficult to imagine that we are formulating a Budget when we don't even have an audit completed for the year that ended September 30, 2014. The city says they won't have it out until the end of July, some 10 months after the close of the year. Are they still crunching numbers?

Financing Discussion tonight in Lake Worth

Comment Up

Although the City Commission, four of whom are advocates for taxing the people for 34 years for infrastructure and road repairs (Maxwell, Triolo, Amoroso and Szerdi), said that the public forums would be advertised in newspapers, etc, I haven't seen much about it. There was a blurb in today's Palm Beach Post local news section.  I would expect tonight's attendance will be the same people as we have seen throughout the election of August 2014 where the city was defeated at the polls on the general obligation bond.

The city is determined to grab the cash...as much as residents might allow.  They are going to "allow" us to speak to taxing methods--all of us retirees, housewives, construction workers, struggling business owners and laborers and middle class working people struggling to stay afloat...people they must believe to be highly knowledgeable on bond financing that has regulatory complexities with interest being double the principal as the last bond proved to us and the then finance director went missing in the night because of his transparency.

An Open Discussion

on Financing Options to Resolve Lake Worth’s Infrastructure Needs

The City Commission will be holding open discussions for citizens to publicly offer their ideas and ask questions about financing options available regarding infrastructure improvements in Lake Worth. “We are excited to continue the discussion on how to fix the infrastructure in Lake Worth” says Mayor Pam Triolo. “We invite residents to bring their ideas on how to pay for the improvements that are desperately needed in Lake Worth.”

Tuesday, January 27 at 6pm
Compass Community Center
201 North Dixie Highway, Lake Worth

Saturday, March 21 at 1pm
Lake Worth City Hall
7 North Dixie Highway, Lake Worth

Bring ideas and questions about financing options available in order to improve our roads, water & sewer services, drainage systems, and sidewalks. Or you may send your ideas & questions to LW2020@lakeworth.org

Lake Worth hires new Finance Director

Comment Up

The City of Lake worth has a new Finance Director--
Nerahoo Hemraj.

EDUCATION:

• Master of Science in accounting with Distinction, Long Island University, June 1983

• Master of Business Administration, Long Island University, February 1978

• Bachelor of Science to Accounting/finance, Long Island University, June 1977

• Associate of Applied Science in accounting/MIS, NYC Community college, January 1975

Mr. Hemraj's last job assignment was with the County of Monterey, California as the Chief Deputy Auditor-Controller/Audit Chief/Deputy Treasurer-Tax Collector.

He begins his job with the City of Lake Worth on February 2, 2015.

Finance Director gone in Lake Worth

We already talked about Doug Wood leaving the city as Finance Director.  But can you imagine the reason given by city manager Mike Bornstein?  This city gets more and more bizarre with each passing day and certainly less believable.  Now it has purged some of the Lake Worth 2020 general obligation bond information off its web site.

Read about it here...

Lake Worth Finance Director gone!

Comment Up

Douglas Wood was just hired on January 30th of this year. He is no longer with the city and his name does not appear on the Lake Worth web site. We have to wonder what happened to Mr. Wood and why his sudden departure. Was it because he was just too disgusted with how things were going or was it because he told the truth on the real cost of the general obligation bond? You have to wonder why anyone would leave right smack in the middle of budget season. Steve Carr has been brought back to help us through.

From January:
Douglas Richard Wood, Fort Lauderdale

Experience: City of Ft. Lauderdale—Director of Finance. 2/14/11 –present, $161,688
City of Lufkin Texas—Director of Finance. 1/31/00 – 3/8-11
HTE, Lake Mary, FL—consultant for govt application software. 04/98 – 02/00
30 years experience in government sector management. Currently oversees a budget of $275.4 MM in the General Fund with a total operating budget for FY 2014 of $530 MM.

Education:

National College--BA with an undergraduate in Business with focus in Accounting
Certified Government Finance Manager...

The Tie-Up - Lake Worth's General Obligation Bond

Comment Up

What is a lien:
A lien is an encumbrance on one person's property to secure a debt the property owner owes to another person. The statement that someone's property is "tied up" describes the effect of liens on both real and personal property. By voting in a general obligation bond for over three decades until paid off, you have legally tied-up your property during that term. Source:  The Free Dictionary

What is a bond:
The contract between the borrower and the lender. By approving this debt on August 26, 2014, you (the property owner), are promising to repay the monies borrowed. This will be done via taxes. The Lake Worth 2020 General Obligation Bond is for $63.5 million along with a humongous debt service with a final payment in year 2049. It is estimated that you will be paying $131 million by the end of the term. Whoever holds the deed on the property that this bond affects will be obligated ("tied-up") for 34 years.

Bond Ratings:
In the purest sense, the credit analysis of a General Obligation bond centers on two issues: (1) the municipality’s willingness to pay and (2) its willingness to pay its debts in a timely manner. The two main ratings companies for municipal bonds are Moody’s and S&P. The basic difference between the ways that the two ratings companies analyze bonds is that, while Moody’s concentrates on debt burdens and debt ratios, S&P focuses on the socioeconomic base of a community (e.g. per capita growth trends, total personal income). We already have been told that we are among the poorest city in Palm Beach County with 2,000 foreclosures and abandoned properties. These properties, owned by banks that have not foreclosed, will generate NO taxes towards this obligation. Source: The Muni Bond Adviser

According to our Finance Director:  "The city does not have a current debt rating for we have no outstanding debt for our general government operations." So, look for Lake Worth to pay a higher rate based on Lake Worth being known for its poverty, the number of foreclosures and the number of abandoned properties.

If Property owners can't or don't pay
If local property owners do not pay their property taxes on time in any given year, a government entity is required to increase its property tax rate by as much as is legally allowable in a following year to make up for any delinquencies. In the interim between the taxpayer delinquency and the higher property tax rate in the following year, the general obligation pledge requires the local government to pay debt service coming due with its available resources. Source: Wikipedia

Security Lien:
If you don't pay, you could be foreclosed upon. Land-based municipal bonds have many of the characteristics of real estate loans. However, the security lien is senior to all real estate loans on the property, because the bonds are secured via the property tax lien. Second, the funds from the bond issue are customarily used to fund public infrastructure (streets, sidewalks, sewer and water lines, etc.) that directly benefits the property responsible to pay off the bonds. Therefore, the bond proceeds directly enhance the value of the property. And that is what Lake Worth wants you to believe. Source:  Fidelity

Finally, if some property owner(s) should default on this tax, it is customary and highly likely that a judicial foreclosure process will occur. You don't/can't pay, look to lose your property.

Lake Worth has a new Finance Director

Comment Up

Unbeknown to the residents here in Lake Worth, we have a new Finance Director--Douglas R. Wood from Ft. Lauderdale. He started with us yesterday. Don't you think there would have been an announcement on this? When calling the department, there was a voice recording telling me there was no one there to take my call. When talking to former finance Director Steve Carr last week, he said that all the applicants were top quality.

All applications were into the city early November. I have been told that the list was narrowed down to the following three.  I have listed their last three places of employment.

1.  David A. Boyd, Delray Beach, FL

Experience:

City of Delray Beach—Director of Finance. 3/01/11 - 11/01/13--$128,000
City of Smyrna, GA—Director of Finance. 12/07/05 – 02/11-11
Christian City, Inc, Union City, GA—VP of Finance – 01/94 – 10/05
Oversight of $170 million budget in Delray Beach.

Education:

University of Georgia--MPA, BA
Master of Public Administration
BA in Political Science
Certified Public Accountant


2. Holly Vath, Palm Beach Gardens, FL

Experience:

Health Care District of PB County—Chief Financial officer. 10/10/05 – 10/29/13--$40-50 an hour
Village of Wellington—Deputy Director of Administrative and Financial Services. 10/01 – 10/10/05
City of Palm Beach Gardens—Assistant Finance Director. 08/89 – 10/01

Education:

Florida Atlantic University--Master of Public Administration
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University--BS Degree Computer Science
Certified Fraud Examiner
Certified Government Finance Officer


3. Douglas Richard Wood, Fort Lauderdale

Experience:

City of Ft. Lauderdale—Director of Finance. 2/14/11 –present, $161,688
City of Lufkin Texas—Director of Finance. 1/31/00 – 3/8-11
HTE, Lake Mary, FL—consultant for govt application software. 04/98 – 02/00
30 years experience in government sector sector management.  Currently oversees a budget of $275.4 MM in the General Fund with a total operating budget for FY 2014 of $530 MM.

Education:

National College--BA with an undergraduate in Business with focus in Accounting
Certified Government Finance Manager...

Setting Lake Worth's Budget for 2014

Comment Up

Last night's meeting was, for the most part,  simply a formality to establish the millage and the budget for 2013/2014 that is required by law.

• Millage:  5.4945 (same as last year)

• Stormwater special assessment:  $75.60 per ERU (no change from last year)

• Refuse collection special assessment:  $245.76 (no change)

• Rates and charges for Electric:  Reduction in rates of 4.5% for residential and small commercial customers. Mayor Pam Triolo said, "Let's live within our means. We can go back and adjust if we have to."  Vice Mayor Scott Maxwell said, "That's a game change for us."  The Finance Director had a slide showing the comparisons between Lake Worth and FPL mentioning that FPL was just granted a rate increase of 5% beginning in January because of fuel projection costs whereas we do not have to go before a Public Service Commission for rates.

• Rates and charges for water: No increase

• Rates and charges for Local Sewer:  10% decrease

• Rates and charges for sub-regional sewer: $1.563 per 1000 gallons and $1.315 per 1000 gallons for the City of Palm Springs

Finance Director Carr gave a brief presentation to sum up the 6 Budget Workshop meetings stating that the city has 341 employees with 170 working for our utility. Three positions are being eliminated. Factors for Lake Worth 2020 program are in the budget and if passed, will increase water, local sewer and regional sewer charges.  Our non-controllable costs of pensions are:

Fire:  $2.8 million
Police:  $2.9 million
Employees:  $1.1 million

Miami has problems with juggling

Comment Up

You know we are always wondering where money goes. It is transferred out of this line item and put in another. The commission will make this or that resolution to justify it all. It's all tricky stuff and no one can remember months later where in hell the money went.  Commissions change just like city employees. Records are not detailed, are purged, or just plain inaccurate or go missing and we never know what is going on behind closed doors. Not anymore we don't.

Lake Worth got in the hot seat with FEMA and now Miami is in the hot seat for the second time with the SEC. The investigation in Miami, which began in 2009, stemmed from a Herald report that found city financial managers had transferred $26.4 million from the capital budget that pays for big-ticket construction items into the general fund to reduce gaping holes in the operating budget as the local economy soured. At the time, budget officials justified the transfers by saying the projects were no longer necessary.  This sounds vaguely familiar.

We had a lot of missing money in Lake Worth and our beach fund virtually disappeared years back. At least we can say here in Lake Worth that we now have confidence in our finance department since Steve Carr was hired but there are still some who complain about the Casino Finance Plan or question as to where the billboard money went. Miami can't claim that they have a stable finance department. One up on them. I think.

Read more... about Miami's problems with the SEC.

Lake Worth keeps on taking a beating

Comment Up
UPDATE See highlight below.

Lake Worth took a beating during Wilma, ranked among the top five costly hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic which began on October 26, 2005. The eye of the storm actually crossed Lake Worth. Our loss was $12 million.  Overall, the hurricane claimed 62 lives and damage was estimated at $29.1 billion. Wilma is ranked among the top five most costly hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic and the fifth costliest storm in United States history but it was Frances in 2004 that destroyed our Lake Worth Pier.

Back then, the City was put on notice by our external auditors that there were accounting errors with the FEMA money that we got from Frances during city manager Paul Boyer's administration. One of the things you must do is back up the receivables from FEMA with receipts. Boyer told us that the city can not produce the receipts and FEMA wants us to reimburse them $1.2 million.

Now Lake Worth is taking another beating-- and according to the Post, FEMA wants us to repay $500,000  because of lack of documentation after Wilma. We can't prove one-half million in expenses. We don't learn lessons well and sometimes we can't even fire those who are incompetent because of Union protection. The report by the Inspector General, Office of Homeland Security, says that we owe FEMA $7.7 million.

We had filed a claim with FEMA and now the agency says, we, once again, have shoddy bookwork. We spent the money on disaster recovery but we just can't prove it...sort of like the sewer fiasco that cost us $10 million for shoddy paperwork.  There was a lot of shoddy stuff going on back in those days. Our savings disappeared too along with the millions in our beach fund. The assistant city manager, Laura Hannah, got a $50,000 raise.

Then after Stanton was hired in 2009, she changed out the Finance Department...got rid of the past problems (staff) that had cost us millions and hired a competent director, Steven Carr.

Now we know why the commission has been asked to delay the $500,000 payment of the loan to ourselves on the casino.

Read the PBPost article.

The Red and Black of it

Comment Up
Finance Director, Steven Carr, offered his first Power Point presentation last night on the 2014 Budget.

Explaining the hierarchy, he compared it to an organizational chart using General Motors Corporation as his example. There is a Board of Directors (the city Commission), Chairman of the board (our Mayor) and department heads who report up the chain with the commission overseeing all that happens and directing the CEO, (city manager) to implement their policies. The basic difference is that a corporation maximizes profits delivering value to its shareholders whereas a city government generates revenue to pay its bills to operate the city and to come out even in revenue and expenses.

One thing of interest in the organizational chart was, the Residents used to be at the top of the Chart...now it is side by side with the Commission.  We used to be the boss. We have learned over the last year that the residents have less and less of a voice and this commission has shown its contempt for some who have spoken before them.

This commission has given away some of its control as the city manager now can spend $25,000 or under without asking the commissions' permission. The sum used to be $15,000 until just a few months ago.  I have always been against this new policy.

As this budget is a living document" (it changes when necessary), I have to wonder about all the expensive items that are thrown on the Consent Agenda with absolutely NO discussion. Just because they might be budgeted does not necessarily mean that they are still relevant. Years ago we got into a lot of trouble with a few city managers spending like there was no tomorrow. It has taken us since the 2010 Budget in which Susan Stanton was a part, to start turning this city around and be in the Black.

In 2013 and now predicted for 2014, the city has once again spent and will be spending more than it will generate in revenues with ad valorem staying flat. This is in spite of the fact that it was  recommended to delay paying the principal on the casino loan this year in the amount of $500,000 that we borrowed from ourselves. We have a good reserve starting but I thought our goal was not to spend more than we make. A corporation like GE would not survive with that mindset overseen by their Board of Directors.