KDH poll respondents overwhelmingly back audit of unpaid developer fees

Killeen Daily Herald
By Dave Miller | Herald staff writer
September 3, 2023

By an overwhelming margin, respondents to the Killeen Daily Herald’s weekly poll said they think the Killeen City Council should call for an audit to look into unpaid developer fees.

In an online poll conducted Aug. 27 through Sept. 2, 87% of respondents agreed with the two “yes” answers in the poll, compared to about 10% who agreed with the two “no” responses. Another 3% chose the “unsure” response.

Killeen city officials recently acknowledged that some developer fees hadn’t been paid consistently, over a period of several years, particularly in the area of inspections.

Moreover, the city claims it has no records regarding how much is owed to the city, or the amount owed by individual developers.

Consequently, several elected officials, including the mayor, as well as the city manager have said they support an internal audit of the development services department, which collects the fees.

However, some council members have said that an audit is unnecessary.

The poll asked, “Do you think the Killeen City Council should call for an audit to investigate unpaid developer fees?”

The response receiving 58% of the response was, “Yes. It’s important to find out how much was unpaid and where the process failed.”

The other “yes” response earned the next-highest vote total with 29%. It read, “Yes. Conducting a thorough investigation is the best way to ensure transparency.”

The two “no” responses focused on the city’s move to a new system and the possibility that the uncollected amount was relatively low.

Each respondent can only vote once, as the online poll is structured.

See the accompanying graphic for the full poll results.

Readers are encouraged to participate in this week’s online poll.

The question being asked is, “Do you think Killeen City Council members should refrain from voting on an agenda item whenever there is a potential conflict of interest?”