Internal audit on Killeen developer fees to go forward

Killeen Daily Herald
By Kevin Limiti | Herald
September 12, 2023

Shortly before Tuesday’s Killeen City Council meeting began, Mayor Debbie Nash-King announced that the audit committee voted to conduct an internal audit on the unpaid or uncollected developer inspection fees.

Nash-King, after walking out of the city’s audit committee meeting, said the decision was straightforward.

The committee meeting was held in closed session. According to city officials, the audit committee meets in closed session.

It is not clear which way each of the individual members voted.

The mayor also mentioned the upcoming internal audit during Tuesday’s nights regular council meeting, which including comments from local developers who say the city charges too much for fees.

“There will be an internal audit in development services,” Nash-King said during the council meeting.

City staff say taxpayers have to cover the cost of doing inspections because the inspection and other fees on new construction don’t cover the city’s cost of doing them. Some fees have not been collected in the past depending on which city office developers and homebuilders went to, officials have said — a problem the city has said is now fixed due to a receipt system.

Nash-King, who initially requested the audit meeting, had expressed concerns over gaps in the process that have allowed fees charged to developers to go unpaid or uncollected.

During a recent City Council discussion on proposed increases to developer inspection fees, city officials acknowledged that the city hadn’t been consistent in collecting the fees.

City Manager Kent Cagle said one reason may be that some developers went to engineering with their plans, rather than to building inspection, and no one with the city checked to confirm that the fees had been paid.

He said that it wasn’t common, and likely unintentional, and that ultimately the blame is with the city.

The city claims it has no records regarding how much went uncollected by the city, or the amount that would have been owed by individual developers.

With the approval of the audit looking into the issue, now it is up to City Auditor Matthew Grady to investigate the process and recommend steps to improve it.

In addition to the mayor, the audit committee consists of Councilmen Ramon Alvarez and Michael Boyd, as well as residents Bob Blair and Jack Ralston.