What ought to have been a routine inquiry into government financial data has taken another series of twists and turns.
As previously reported, this past spring the Travis County commissioners court approved over $100,000 in undisclosed “security improvements” for District Attorney Jose Garza’s home. Beyond the eye-popping sum, questions were raised regarding whether commissioners violated the Texas Open Meetings Act as part of the process.
Now, a separate set of related inquiries has led to a lawsuit.
As reported by KXAN, in March, the county auditor’s office approved $27,000 for “security services” for the district attorney. The station discovered the expenditure through public data on the county’s financial transparency portal, which uncovered two payments to a vendor called “Group for Horizon Entertainment, Inc.” Further investigation revealed that this company does business as a private security firm called “Ranger Guard.”
On March 7, following the discovery of the first payment, the station submitted an open records request to Travis County for all records related to “Group for Horizon Entertainment, Inc.” On March 25, the county sought an attorney general’s ruling to deny the request. However, on May 30, the AG’s office ruled in favor of KXAN.
For nearly a month, Travis County refused to acknowledge the AG ruling. Then, on June 28, the county informed KXAN they intended to file suit to overturn the attorney general’s ruling. While not unprecedented, this step is considered highly unusual and will delay the release of the information indefinitely.
Concerned Travis County taxpayers may contact County Judge Andy Brown at (512) 854-9555.
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