- August 6, 2026
From 2008 to 2025, more than 8,400 building permits expired without a final inspection in Volusia County, according to an internal audit on the county's building inspections.
The audit, which was discussed during the Volusia County Council meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 4, also found gaps in procedures, over $400,000 in lost annual revenue and an occupancy fee rate that hasn't been updated since 2006. Three county employees also resigned during the audit period after a human resources investigation was launched, following the discovery of a permit applied for by the then-county chief building official that contained six irregularities, including recalculated permit fees, the removal of an application fee and lack of documentation.
County Council Chair Jeff Brower pulled the audit from the meeting's consent agenda due to the publicity it has garnered in the news and social media.
"There is no big gotcha that I'm looking for here," Brower said. "... I want everybody to hear what the county went through, what you (the internal auditor) went through."
Control weaknesses across all stages of building inspection operations, including "insufficient safeguards to prevent and detect conflicts of interest," were identified in the audit, which covered the 2025 fiscal year and examined inspections (residential and commercial), permit revenues and annual program expenditures. The audit found that 8,448 permits expired without final inspection from 2008 to 2025. The majority of these — 1,666 permits — were for accessory structures. The audit found lack of county processes to verify whether expired permit work was completed, abandoned or left uninspected, according to the auditor's presentation.
There were an estimated 2,123 reinspections during which a fee was not collected, resulting in $382,000 of lost revenue. A total of about $21,500 in fees for repeat violations also went uncollected.
The audit additionally noted that the county's all-use group occupancy rate has not been updated since 2006, holding steady at $15 per square foot. The audit states Volusia's rate should be about $27.18 per square foot.
Documentation gaps allowed permits to close despite outstanding fees and unresolved deficiencies.
In the case of the irregularities found in the former county chief building official's permit, which was for a 5,000-square-foot metal accessory storage building, the audit reports that the permit fee fell from $1,691.78 to $388.88 after he disputed the original calculated construction cost and staff recalculated the fee twice, each time with a further reduction without written justification, a licensed reviewer and documented approval.
Staff then went outside the county processes and recalculated fees manually, removing a $55.11 permit application fee as well. The chief building official paid $333.77 after all reductions.
Building inspections are under the county's Growth and Resource Management division, which has seen significant changes in the last year. Volusia County Manager George Recktewald said that the chief building official retired during the audit period and that the division is now under new leadership, as well.
"I can assure you, with all that happening, the culture of the whole division has been thoroughly looked at and is changing under the direction of the new department head and the new building official," Recktenwald said.
To address the issues, the audit recommended the county implement annual conflict-of-interest disclosure forms, written assignment protocols, a removal of authority to extend permit expiration dates, expired permit monitoring, updating rates and escalating reinspection fees according to state statutes.
County Councilman Troy Kent said the county needs to make sure it is collecting reinspection fees and that he is in favor of increasing the occupancy fee rate.
"If it hasn't been done in 20 years, you got to get it right," Kent said. "You got to get that number correct."
County Councilman David Santiago disagreed.
"I'm not for any fee increases," he said. "We haven't been told that this silo under our budget approval is short of any funds, so absolutely no fee increases for me."
Santiago also pushed back against the audit's findings, saying that he would have preferred the audit outline places the county is in violation of certain statutes or internal policies.
"Recommendations for what we could have done are more opinion," he said.
Brower saw the audit differently.
"I didn't find an opinion in it," he said. "I found you went to other resources and found standard operating procedures and repeated those."
