Where does the County Buck Stop? Would an 86% increase in the Kinney County Auditor’s Budget Fix the Problem or Just Cost More?

In recent months, media coverage of Kinney County has been focused on the county finances and the people who are elected or appointed to oversee them. Calls for removal of the county auditor, concerning results found in a recent forensic audit, salary increases, and the recent proposed budget for FY26, including a proposed 86% increase in the auditor’s office, have made their way through articles, blogs, comments and local chatter. Headlines have raised eyebrows, and citizens have cited concerns about the stewardship of local tax dollars. As concerns seemingly pile up, urges to place blame become stronger, and citizens continue to demand accountability, but where the accountability lies seems to be up for debate. While articles and social media posts have brought several issues to light, Kinney County Post is working diligently to research the ongoing situation and provide readers with a more comprehensive account of what has transpired over the past year, with historical background, so the public can follow along with additional context and stay informed and engaged.

For readers that are seeing this for the first time, news broke in an article by Texas Scorecard in July 2025, that Kinney County commissioners had called for the removal of County Auditor Cheryll Jones, “following allegations of mismanagement and misconduct.” The call highlighted a list of allegations that have affected the operations of county business, resulting in a substantial loss of grant awards for county residents, disruptions in services such as electrical power to surveillance cameras, and delayed issuance of approved payments to employees being among the alleged impacts. 

Cheryll Jones was appointed less than a year ago by District Judge Roland Andrade in October 2024, filling the role that Donieta O’Keefe had previously held. Jones had previously been the County Auditor for Wichita County from 2020 to 2024, where she also made headlines about her being escorted from her office by security personnel from the Sheriff's Office. From there, her application was submitted to Val Verde County Auditor, Matthew Weingardt, for review and subsequent consideration by District Judge Andrade for the Kinney County Auditor position. Jones and Weingardt were reportedly engaged at the time he was charged with reviewing applications for the position, and have since married. In a salary hearing for the new auditor in January 2025, Judge Andrade was quoted as saying, “we're lucky enough that Cheryll was around, because that's all I could find.”  There were, however, other applicants. 

For context, It’s important to understand that in Texas, county auditors are not elected by voters or hired by commissioners. Instead, they are appointed by the district judges of the county. In Kinney County, that means Judge Andrade is the official who appoints—and has oversight responsibility for—the County Auditor. That means while the Commissioners Court and the public may raise concerns, the ultimate responsibility for making sure Kinney County’s Auditor is doing the job rests with Judge Andrade. 

Following the call for the auditor’s removal, Judge Andrade’s office confirmed an investigation was ongoing as of August 1, 2025. Andrade has submitted an extensive public information request to Kinney County, and according to a second related article from Texas Scorecard, “On August 7, Texas Scorecard sent Judge Roland Andrade of the 63rd District Court in South Texas a Rule 12 request for records regarding Kinney County Auditor Cheryll Jones. This request followed an investigative report about local pleas for her termination.” A copy of Judge Andrade’s response was provided in the article which showed he denied the request for information in full. 

As tensions rise, what is being informally referred to as the “ Southerland Audit,” a recent forensic audit of Kinney County, began showing up online, in some cases seemingly to defend the current county auditor’s reported actions. The forensic audit, prepared by Don B. Southerland Jr., CPA, CFE, was issued on November 1, 2024, and focused on the time period audited covered 2020 to April 2024. The forensic audit was initiated prior to the current County Auditor being appointed, by Kinney County Commissioners, who voted on April 22, 2024 to retain the firm to conduct an internal Forensic Accounting Audit of certain Kinney County Funds, practices, and procedures to ensure compliance with state law, according to meeting minutes. 

This audit, which can be found online at KinneyCountyPost.com certainly alludes to years of financial mismanagement across multiple offices within the county, even reporting on the illegally opened Kinney County Abandoned Motor Vehicle Escrow Account which appeared to have been opened in 1995 by Sheriff LK Burgess under Kinney County Federal Tax Number. The findings of the forensic audit certainly did not happen overnight, but the same audit provided a detailed list of corrective actions which county departments could take, leaving a clear, albeit lengthy, to-do list for the elected officials and County Auditor. Independent of the current County Auditor, county departments have begun taking corrective actions to address the findings, although sources from within the county offices have reported difficulties in contacting Ms. Jones for assistance. Kinney County Post has submitted a public information request for communications between county officials and the county auditor to verify what efforts have been made, but had not received an official response at time of printing. 

The structure and design of the auditor position is important to understand, when considering who is responsible for what and who is accountable to whom. The county auditor position is designed to be independent from the Commissioners Court so that taxpayer funds have an extra layer of oversight outside the political process, although the position is still funded by the local taxpayers within the county budget. The District Judge, Roland Andrade, is responsible for appointing a qualified auditor and holding the auditor accountable, responding to credible complaints and if needed, removing an auditor “for cause.” According to the Kinney County Employee Handbook, it is the auditor’s responsibility to, “A. Upon notification or discovery of avoidance of internal controls, the County Auditor will promptly coordinate the investigation of possible fraud with the County Attorney or the District Attorney. The County Auditor will follow up on the lack of internal controls that may be identified during the investigation. B. Upon discovery or notification of the lack of internal controls or a request for help establishing, changing or evaluating internal controls by a department, the County Auditor will follow up with the department.” In short, the county auditor is responsible for holding the other county offices accountable and ensuring corrective actions are taken when necessary, and the district judge is responsible for holding the county auditor accountable. 

Despite not having authority over the auditor’s office, the county still funds the office and includes the department budget in the complete county budget. At Monday’s Commissioners Court budget hearing, Judge Schuster clarified that previous versions of the proposed budget had not included the department budget from the County Auditor. Having recently received Ms. Jones’ proposed budget, he shared that her total budget includes an increase of 86% from the prior year’s adopted budget for that department. Ms. Jones responded to a request for comment about the previous absence of her department’s budget, “the auditor's budget was not ready.  There is no change to the auditor's office.  The auditor's office budget is an anomaly to the rest of the county departments as it does not require Commissioners' Court approval unless certain limits are exceeded.  The legislature has done this intentionally so that the Commissioners' Court does not control the budget for the office intended to be the check and balance to the Court, other officials and offices in the county. The largest portion of the auditor's budget is salaries and benefits.  Salaries and the number of assistants is determined by the District Judge per statute (LGC 152.031) after a public hearing.  This effects the benefits portion of the budget.  At this time, the public hearing has not been set.” Ms. Jones’ proposed budget includes the Auditor salary at $78,750, an assistant auditor at $46,350, an additional assistant auditor at $42,848, and a part time assistant auditor - “legal” - at $25,000. With a total budget proposed at $273,630.35, the auditor’s office would be funded higher than the offices of Tax Assessor Collector, County Judge, County Attorney, Treasurer, County and District Clerk, Justice of the Peace, and others. This comes after District Judge Andrade’s statement at his public hearing in January, “when it comes -- we come back to our budget workshops and whatnot, let's see where we're at. And if everything's cleaned up, then salary goes back down.” The auditor’s budget depends on a public hearing ordered by the District Judge which has not yet been set, although County Commissioners intend to adopt the new fiscal year budget before the end of the month. At the recent Commissioners Court meeting, salary adjustments for county officials were considered in a public hearing with no public comments. 

To summarize, recent events have left taxpayers questioning how things got to this point. While there is clearly a need for increased oversight, the questions remain: where, and how much will it cost?

Kinney County Post will continue to report on findings as we investigate what corrective actions have been taken, whose responsibility it is to audit the auditor, and how citizens can stay informed and feel confident local and district officials are being good stewards of local tax dollars. The next Regular Commissioners' Court Meeting is set for September 22, 2025 at 9am. Meetings are recorded on video and can be found online at https://www.youtube.com/@BrackettCommunityVideos.

Sources:
Kinney County Forensic Audit
Kinney County Auditor's Proposed FY26 Department Budget
Kinney County Auditor Salary Hearing January 2025
Kinney County FY25 Approved Budget
Commissioners Court Request