City fires employee over billing snafu

The city of Sarasota has fired Lori Benton, the administrative assistant who allegedly double-billed both the city and the state in a Newtown Front Porch youth program billing scandal.

City manager Bob Bartolotta told the Sarasota City Commission earlier this month that he asked the Sarasota Police Department to investigate allegations of double billing by Benton.

Commissioners reviewed an audit requested by Bartolotta, which reveal that since 2009, there were improper payments from three youth programs titled Man Up, Yelda and Merit.

The audit revealed the city and the state twice were billed twice for youth program participant timecards.

Yelda, a youth program that’s currently under the auspices of the Newtown Front Porch Neighborhood Revitalization Council, is run with a $25,000 grant from the state’s Department of Community Affairs and is designed to offer youths summer jobs.

The audit states that the city “did not require or request information on how the matching funds were utilized and was therefore unaware that Yelda invoiced both the city and the state for the same charges.”

Benton has denied any wrongdoing and said she plans to appeal the firing.

Contact Kurt Schultheis at [email protected].