Previously disputed by Lompoc’s legal counsel, a local resident’s 2023 complaint against the city’s tourism board and its accounting practices ignited a Santa Barbara County grand jury investigation.
In a report released on March 22, the jury concluded that the Lompoc Tourism Business Improvement District’s annual reporting “shows hundreds of thousands of dollars in unaccounted-for funds” between 2020 and 2022.
The cumulative amount of under-reported funds—$537,165.09—was verified by the jury, the city of Lompoc, and the tourism district’s financial services firm, according to the report, which includes an outline of discrepancies between the jury’s calculated savings and the tourism district’s reported savings.
The report reveals that the jury also discovered that a total of $800,000 was “previously transferred to money market accounts that, while earning a higher level of interest, are not accounted for in the required annual reports submitted to and approved by the Lompoc City Council.”
Lompoc’s Public Information Officer and Community Relations Manager Samantha Scroggin told the Sun that the city “will issue a response to the Santa Barbara County grand jury report regarding management of the Lompoc Tourism Improvement District within the 90-day time period allotted.”
The grand jury’s inspection of the Lompoc Tourism Business Improvement District—Visit Lompoc LLC (Explore Lompoc)—began with a request from Lompoc resident Martin Bender, a U.S. Air Force veteran with a law degree who first spoke against the district during public comment at the Lompoc City Council’s March 21, 2023, meeting and again at its April 4, 2023, meeting.
On April 20, 2023, Bender summarized his allegations—raised after he independently investigated public records—on Visit Lompoc LLC’s annual reporting in a blog on lompoctoday.com and encouraged other community members to submit complaint forms to the Santa Barbara County grand jury.
“If enough people submit complaints, it will put pressure on the grand jury to investigate the claims,” Bender blogged.
On May 2, 2023, Lompoc City Attorney Jeff Malawy issued a formal response to Bender’s allegations.
“After review, staff has determined that the majority of Mr. Bender’s claims are without merit,” Malawy stated.
In response to Bender’s claims of inaccuracies in Visit Lompoc LLC’s financial reporting, Malawy said the discrepancies could have resulted from “a variety of reasons, including but not limited to, a difference between accrual-basis accounting and cash-basis accounting methodologies, timing differences, or errors in Visit Lompoc’s bookkeeping.”
The grand jury stated in its March 22, 2024, report that “accounting is not a disappearing act and neither cash nor accrual methods can cause year-over-year carryover discrepancies of this magnitude.”
“Transparency in the reporting of funds collected from Lompoc businesses for tourism enhancement should clearly show how these funds are being used to promote Lompoc,” the report states.
On behalf of Visit Lompoc LLC, Special Counsel Michael G. Colantuono sent the Sun a statement on March 26 addressing the grand jury’s investigation and the reported $800,000 transferred to money market accounts.
“Visit Lompoc could not market Lompoc during COVID when there were few tourists to attract. Our nonprofit saved money until we could spend it well—and we are pleased it is earning interest while we await opportunities to spend it to market the Lompoc community,” Colantuono wrote. “While we welcome public oversight and transparency, we believe that saving money for a better time to market our amazing region should be viewed as good planning, not otherwise—particularly during a time when countless businesses and nonprofits could not sustain themselves.”
