In 2010, Palm Beach County hired Sheryl Steckler for the newly created position of inspector general to weed out corruption in local government. The position was the result of a countywide referendum.

Since then, many municipalities were added to her purview, but 14 of them have banded together in a lawsuit over payment for the oversight.

Steckler’s contract is set to be renewed, and a committee has until December to decide whether she will keep her $150,000 job.

The Ethics Commission, with Public Defender Carey Haughwout and State Attorney Dave Aronberg, voted to seek anonymous comments online to gauge public sentiment regarding Steckler and her office, but it will not use the comments in its final decision.

In a newly released report, Steckler said her office has identified over $8.4 million in questionable expenses since its inception and has avoided over $3.9 million in costs since October 2010.

BIZPAC Chairman John R. Smith raised strong objections to creating a new branch of government when he wrote “Price too high for Palm Beach County inspector general.”

“Somebody’s got to say it: sometimes the price of something positive is so high it’s not worth the price,” Smith said.

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