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City attorney: missing receipts total about $1,300; council urged to tighten controls, not pursue costly investigation
Summary
The city attorney reported a citizen complaint alleging roughly $1,304.03 in missing credit-card receipts and possible forged paperwork, advised that criminal prosecution or expensive forensic audits are unlikely to recover small losses, and urged the council to adopt clearer purchasing controls and reconciliation procedures.
The city attorney delivered a detailed review of a citizen complaint about missing municipal credit-card receipts and a potentially forged signature, saying the total of flagged items runs to roughly $1,304.03 and that most individual charges were small.
"I don't think there's anything left to do in terms of repaying money just because the losses were so small," the city attorney said, urging the council to focus on internal controls rather than costly legal action. He described classified theft thresholds and said the office had limited jurisdiction for higher-level offenses, meaning some matters would have to be referred to the county district attorney.
The attorney listed vendor-level examples (Dollar General, Walmart, H E B, McDonald's, Pioneer) and specific sums he identified during the review, including $385.14 in chips and drinks that he said appeared tied to an old community event, and a $236.40 Brazos Landing dinner that the record shows has been repaid. He also flagged $92.97 in sales-tax payments and about $126.72 of transactions labeled as possible personal use but said tracing usage over multiple years made proving individual wrongdoing difficult.
He recommended the council adopt written policies on allowable purchases and per-diem limits and to implement a consistent reconciliation process so future small discrepancies are identified and resolved promptly. The attorney suggested the city try lower-cost steps — staff outreach to vendors and establishing logs — before hiring outside investigators or forensic accountants.
