DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Daytona Beach city auditor is speaking out after a tense city commission meeting put his findings — and his methods — under fire.
City Auditor Abenit Belachew sat down with News 6 to address the questions and accusations directed at him following his presentation of a sweeping audit of the Daytona Beach Fire Department, centered on roughly $500,000 in city spending.
The audit launched in the fall after city employee whistleblowers brought spending concerns to elected officials. Belachew went department by department, starting with the fire department. His report, obtained by News 6, outlines what he describes as major violations in the use of P-cards, or purchasing cards.
Belachew says he sent his findings to both the fire chief and city manager in February and gave them an opportunity to respond with questions or concerns. He says neither did.
The report covers spending between 2021 and 2025, flagging about $500,000 charged to city purchasing cards — largely for vehicle repairs and fuel. The audit also identified 14 employees taking city vehicles home with no mileage logs, more than $50,000 spent on fast food by fire leadership, hundreds of purchases with missing receipts, roughly $50,000 in unexplained technology purchases, and additional transactions Belachew described as “questionable.”
On Thursday, Belachew sent News 6 dozens of receipts — the ones turned in to him — which he said backed his claims. He also recommended the city update and tighten its policies around spending documentation.
When Belachew presented his findings Wednesday night, the meeting stretched until nearly 2 a.m. Several commissioners pushed back, demanding more proof, more numbers — and pressing him to state outright whether fraud had been committed.
Fire Chief Dru Driscoll addressed the commission with a rebuke of the audit.
“The seemingly subjective report furnished by the city auditor unfairly and potentially negligently disparages and brings harmful discredit upon the men and women of the fire department,” Driscoll said.
Belachew said the response from both commissioners and fire leadership caught him off guard.
“The message was clear — you need to push back an auditor, you need to question audit findings, not you need to implement corrective action,” Belachew said.
Belachew was direct about what he sees as his role — and its limits.
“The auditor will not determine fraud. The court is,” Belachew said. “My job is to highlight some of the things I highlighted for improvement of internal control. I’m not a prosecutor, I can’t prosecute people. I’m not a detective.”
Still, he said the dollar amount alone shouldn’t determine the level of concern.
“Regardless of that amount, the elected people should be concerned of why we are spending a penny without a good reason,” Belachew said.