CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Nueces County commissioners are now considering a partial audit of their auditing office after one commissioner alleged inconsistencies in the reported figures.
County leaders finalized their budget for the upcoming fiscal year in September, totaling $147 million.
Nueces County Precinct 4 Commissioner Brent Chesney said leaders had to make a difficult decision due to an unforeseen expense that caused them to pull from the reserve balance.
"Some excess claims for county employees that cost us a couple million dollars," he said.
Chesney said that the significant expense prompted him to call for a partial audit.
"If someone made a mistake that is costing us to have to dig into our reserves and paying an extra $500,000 in expenses that we weren't anticipating, or a million dollars that we weren't anticipating that can't be swept under the rug, we have to deal with it," he said.
Inconsistencies in large budgets can affect multiple departments, Chesney said, particularly if those discrepancies are not properly addressed.
"I've never had to delay a budget vote and we had to delay a budget vote by two weeks. We all looked through it and found some numbers that were wrong, department heads were complaining that their numbers weren't right," he said.
During a regularly scheduled meeting, Chesney claimed the Nueces County Appraisal District had exceeded its budget constraints. However, Chief Appraiser Ronnie Canales said that departments had to solidify their budgets back in September, and that there's a possibility that wasn't reflected properly.
"All entities were made aware of what their increases were on the budget whether the county has gotten that information correct or not , that's something I'm not privy to," he said.
Chesney acknowledged that, as with most issues, there are two sides to the story.
"The appraisal district can come and they can show us this was the auditors fault and the auditor might say, hey., this is their fault," he said.
Chesney told 3NEWS that a proposal will be brought to the court in January to look for recommendations for the partial audit along with a potential funding source.
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