In letter dated March 11, the U.S. Department of Labor demanded that embattled public employment agency CareerSource Pinellas repay $1.9 million in misspent funding within the next 30 days - and it remains unclear if taxpayer money would settle the debt.
While CareerSource is publicly funded, County Administrator Barry Burton made it clear that the organization is a completely separate entity from the county. However, he said Pinellas "could have been on the hook" if CareerSource did not have the money for repayment. He explained the organization uses federal funding, which requires working through a chief elected official. In this case, Pinellas County Government.
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