Tamarac Mayor Michelle J. Gomez is now under scrutiny after receiving Federal PPP money. According to Federal paperwork, Gomez through her business received more than $40,000 of Taxpayer money. On April 14, 2020, the company was approved for $20,445.00 and said it retained 3 jobs. A year later, on March 30, 2021, Gomez’s company was approved for another $19,640.00 This time she claimed she retained 6 Jobs. State Records indicate that Gomez is the sole owner of her business. When Tamarac Post visited the business in a small condo office off of University Drive in Tamarac, only a tenant who rents space in her office was on site.
The Mayor’s business is Saunders, Curtis, Ginestra, and Gore, PA whose business card she often flaunts around town and at City and chamber events. The name of the business sounds impressive, like a big law practice, well that’s not the case. The issue is that the firm’s partners have either been dead or have moved on to another practice. So who are the six individuals that Gomez employs?
A source close to Gomez told Tamarac Post that the one-term Mayor can’t have so many employees, “as a matter of a fact, she is gearing up to close the practice because business is so bad,” the source said.
Gomez says she makes up to $25,000 per year from the firm on City disclosures. Based on one of the approved amounts of $20,445, Gomez’s law firm would have paid out no more than $98,136 either in 2019 or 2020 for three employees. But here is the kicker, based on her second approved amount of $19,640.00, she would have paid out $94,272 to DOUBLE THE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES in 2020. So Gomez wants the Federal Government to believe, assuming she paid herself $25,000 from her $94,272.00 salary payout, that 5 additional, perhaps full-time, employees received $13,854.44 per year or $7 per hour? Something does not add up. In the middle of a pandemic, Gomez hired more people and paid them less? Of perhaps the employees do not exist, let us see what the Division of Workers Compensation has to say!
Darcy Schiller, one of the few supporters of Gomez, often goes before the Tamarac Commission to praise the Mayor. In one of her commentaries, Schiller says Gomez is the only elected official who works for the residents FULL time, laughable, but it is her opinion. But using Schiller’s scenario, if Gomez works full time in Tamarac, earning more than $70,000 per year in salary and allowances of Taxpayer money, then Gomez would need to hire at least 5 paralegals in her firm that grew more than 100% during Covid.
According to allcriminaljusticeschools.com, a paralegal in Florida makes about $51,000. So five paralegals are working for Gomez at a 400% discount?
So many questions are left to be answered, but rest assured, Tamarac Post will investigate and answer all of them. This is a developing story.
