El Paso's Financial Committee considers overhaul amid city spending scrutiny

Former El Paso City Manager Tommy Gonzalez.
Credit: KFOX14/CBS4

KFOX 14
by Staff
Monday, January 22, 2024

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — The committee in charge of overseeing spending by El Paso city employees believes they need to overhaul how they're doing their jobs.

The Financial Oversight and Audit Committee (FOAC) said on Monday that it was going to look into the spending habits of city council members and other city employees.

That spending includes thousands of dollars that were racked up on city-issued gas cards by City Rep. Cassandra Hernandez and former City Rep. Claudia Rodriguez.

City documents also referenced the spending of former City Manager Tommy Gonzalez's office, concerning travel, as well as taxpayer-funded purchasing cards that are meant for small transactions.

While the committee didn't talk about those items during Monday's meeting, westside City Rep. and Chairman of FOAC Brian Kennedy said he wants to make sure taxpayer money isn't being abused by city employees.

"I think that one of the things that we're doing is we're trying to tighten and all controls we're doing a really hard job right now to try and go in and say if there is a system that isn't working or a system that's not existent then say we got to start looking at that," Kennedy said.

Kennedy also said the committee is waiting on spending reports going as back as 2020.

Kennedy mentioned that as soon as those reports come back, the committee will discuss their findings in an open meeting.