Messy bookkeeping and questions of financial mismanagement dominated the Elgin City Council meeting last week, as officials declined to pursue a forensic audit despite growing public concern and a state investigation now underway.
At the council’s previous meeting on October 21, City Councilmember Tiffany St. Pierre accused Democrat Mayor Theresa McShan of not wanting a forensic audit to examine how city funds were handled during the 2023 and 2024 fiscal years after a $6 million deficit was discovered.
The Elgin City Council agreed to have a follow-up meeting on November 5 to discuss the financial situation.
Shortly after, Gov. Greg Abbott announced that the Texas Rangers would investigate the City of Elgin, as accusations made during the heated city council meeting suggested potential violations of the law.
During the November 5 meeting, City Councilmember Joy Casnovsky likened the city’s financial disarray to staff who “weren’t doing their job,” calling it the result of “incompetence or sloppiness.”
Casnovsky asked for an explanation of “the difference between messy or sloppy accounting and fraudulent accounting.”
Interim Elgin City Manager Robert Eads interjected, saying, “I don’t think [anyone] right now has the ability to say what would be that line.”
He added that while he could hire a financial director immediately, the city had paused the process in an attempt to “earn, as quickly but as correctly, the trust of the public back.”
Eads acknowledged, however, that “we’re not gonna have audit staffing in place by December 31.”
Later in the meeting, Councilmember St. Pierre restated her original concerns that “laws were violated within this messy bookkeeping.” She asserted the missing funds were “intentional” and “reckless disregard for our finances.”
“What we did was wrong, and we have to admit that. We have to look at that. We need to investigate that,” said St. Pierre, leading to applause from citizens in attendance.
In a statement released October 30, the City of Elgin said audits from “fiscal years 2022 and 2023 found no evidence of wrongdoing or criminal activity and no missing funds” and that “any issues discovered in the audits concerning accounting procedures are being addressed with current staff.”
The city council did not approve of plans for a forensic audit during the November 5 meeting.
The next meeting is set to be held at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, November 17, in the Elgin Public Library and will be streamed on the city’s YouTube channel. It will begin with public comments, but the agenda shows there are no plans to further discuss financial issues.
