Water district fails to get audited since 2020

Board holds public hearing on budget without providing copies for public to view - until asked

Sep 24, 2024

Thanks to concerned citizens, it has been brought to light that the Kinney County Groundwater Conservation has not been audited for four years, something that is required by state law every year.

The citizens also pointed out that even though they asked for copies of the district’s 2024-2025 budget prior to the public hearing on it, they were told it was not available.

Audits have not been done for 2020, 2021, 2022 or 2023.

The public hearing on the budget and tax rate was held Wednesday, Sept. 11.

Taxpayer Sharon Wolfe spoke to the board about its problems during that hearing. She said she had submitted an open records request for the district’s profit and loss statement for last year and was informed that no one had it.

So she tracked down the CPA firm that did the district’s work, Susan B. Newsome of Del Rio, and found that Randy Galloway, the firm’s auditor, had health problems. He hadn’t finished the 2020 audit, Wolfe said, and had no plans to do 2021, 2022 or 2023.

“It’s real confusing to me on not having an audit every year when you’re required to have an audit every year,” Wolfe said. “Without that information, I don’t know how y’all could do a budget.”

Wolfe added, “You’re supposed to have an annual budget with complete financial, including statements of obligations, cash on hand, amount of money received, amount of money spent, all your balances, your estimate of revenues … you need all this stuff to do a budget.”

Wolfe asked if the district had another auditor.

Precinct 3 Director Blake Ward said the auditing firm had been overwhelmed and that at first it wanted to hand off the work but then said it wanted to continue the work.

“This was about a year ago,” Ward said.

General Manager Genell Hobbs said the firm had gotten down to KCGCD being the only customer that it audited and that she had been talking to Copeland, Horton and Company in Uvalde.

(Copeland does auditing for Brackettville Independent School District, which posts its audits - and budgets and other financial information - online. See https://meetings.boardbook.org/Public/Agenda/1723?meeting=653748 for the school’s 2023-2024 audit).

Director Charlie Gaines, himself a CPA, said the board doesn’t need an audit to do a budget, although he was unaware the water district was so far behind.

Ward added that the district’s books “pretty much get audited every month by us - and you,” he said, referring to Gaines.

As for the public being allowed to view a copy of the district’s 2024-2025 budget, taxpayer and permit holder Darlene Shahan (the Shahans have a pumping permit of 1058 acre feet a year) said she asked for a copy of the budget on the Monday before the public hearing and was told it wasn’t available.

She asked if there was a copy available for public viewing that night.

Wolfe said she believed a copy of the budget was supposed to be posted before the public hearing.

Gaines directed Hobbs to give Shahan a copy.

Shahan said she also asked for a copy of the rules changes and was told they were not available.

The rules changes, which are part of the water district’s management plan and have been under discussion for a year, are the subject of future public hearing that directors were to set a date for that evening.

Gaines said a draft of the rules were only finished by the district’s attorney, Greg Ellis, at 4:45 that afternoon. The meeting began at 6 p.m. Gaines gave Shahan a copy of that document.

For a copy of the agenda for the Sept. 11 hearing, see

https://www.kinneycountygcd.org