Although the Regent Community Center in Brandon opened late in 2010, it was only last fall that investigative reporting revealed that the center cost $7 million in local, state and federal taxpayer money, and has not exactly been accessible to the Eastern Hillsborough community. That fueled anger throughout the county, especially in the Brandon area, where the high prices to rent the facility have had critics refer to it as a "Taj Mahal" for Tampa Bay.
The latest outrage for County Commissioners came Wednesday morning, when they blasted an auditor with the Regent who came before the board to explain why the Regent is only able to pay $400 a month to repay a $35,000 debt, which means it won't fully be paid back until 2019. An audit by the Clerk of the County Courts found that was the amount misspent by Regent officials, out of an original $2.5 million grant from the county.
The object of the commission's scorn was David Lemar Jr., the CPA for the Regent.
Les Miller was the first commissioner to get in Lemar's face, demanding to know the monthly income at the facility. "You're telling me you can't afford more than $400 a month for 84 months?"
