District Judges to decide Maverick County Auditor issue on March 20th
By: Jose G. Landa, Copyright 2015, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
The long-running battle and feud between Maverick County Commissioners Court and Maverick County Auditor Fidencio Ortiz comes to a final showdown on Friday, March 20, 2015, as a three-judge panel of State District Judges Cynthia Muniz, Amado J. Abascal, III, and Camile Dubose will meet at 9 A.M. at the Maverick County Courthouse Jury Room to determine whether current County Auditor Ortiz should be re-appointed or another applicant, if any, should be appointed as Maverick County Auditor.
Pursuant to Texas law, the County Auditor position is appointed by the county District Judges and only they can reappoint, remove, or terminate the County Auditor. Commissioners Court do not have the authority to appoint, remove or terminate a County Auditor.
Maverick County Auditor Fidencio Ortiz was appointed on September 24, 2012 by District Judges Muniz and Abascal for a two-year term after there was a vacancy of almost a year in the position and Maverick County’s finances and record-keeping were dismal and in disarray. Ortiz inherited a County finance system troubled by over 10 years or more of poor accounting and auditing record-keeping. The previous County Auditor resigned. Ortiz’s appointment expired on September 24, 2014 but has remained as County Auditor until either he is reappointed or another candidate is appointed.
Maverick County District Judges Muniz and Abascal split on their decision on whether to reappoint Ortiz to another two year term at a special meeting held on October 10, 2014, causing the two judges to request former Texas Governor Rick Perry to appoint a third district judge to form a panel and determine the Maverick County Auditor appointment issue.
Prior to leaving office, former Governor Rick Perry appointed 38th Judicial District Judge Camile Dubose of Uvalde County, Texas as the third district judge on the panel to determine the Maverick County Auditor situation.
County Auditor Ortiz applied to be reappointed and an advertisement was published in local newspapers inviting other candidates to apply for the Maverick County Auditor position. One or more other candidates have also applied for the Maverick County Auditor position in response to the advertisement. The three-judge panel will decide who should be appointed as Maverick County Auditor.
Although Maverick County Commissioners Court lacks the authority to remove County Auditor Ortiz, it is quite obvious that Commissioners Court have philosophical and political differences with County Auditor Ortiz regarding Maverick County’s budget and expenditures and the significant financial consequences to the County and its loyal taxpayers arising from the long history of poor accounting and auditing record-keeping during 10 or more years. Maverick County is losing state and federal grants and sustaining greater expenses over revenues (losses) and no one wants to take responsibility for the severe financial losses being incurred by Maverick County taxpayers.
Maverick County Commissioners Court, comprised of County Judge David R. Saucedo and Commissioners Gerardo “Jerry” Morales, Roberto Ruiz, Jose Luis Rosales, and former Commissioner Asalia Casares, approved a resolution on May 5, 2014 stating their lack of confidence on County Auditor Ortiz and requesting District Judges Muniz and Abascal not reappoint Ortiz as County Auditor and to remove him, commencing a long-standing philosophical and political blame game battle between the two parties.
Under Texas law, the County Auditor plays an important role in the financial integrity of a County budget and finances as well as a checks and balances system of County expenditures. In order to protect a County Auditor’s integrity, Texas law requires the County Auditor be appointed by the county District Judges instead of Commissioners Court.
The lack of previous proper accounting and auditing procedures before Ortiz’s tenure as County Auditor caused the largest abuse and corruption scandal in the history of Maverick County, resulting in a joint FBI and Texas Rangers investigation which indicted over 20 individuals for corruption, bribery, bid-rigging, and kick-back scheme involving public construction contracts of Maverick County, including former County Commissioners Rudy Heredia, Cesar Flores, and Eliaz Maldonado, who all three plead guilty and were sentenced to 10 years of federal prison each, and the recent indictment of current County Commissioner Jose Luis Rosales for similar charges, whose case is still pending in U.S. District Court in Del Rio, Texas. A total of four of five members of Maverick County Commissioners Court have been indicted for corruption with three of them pleading guilty and sentenced to federal prison.
In addition to the public corruption scandal, Maverick County Commissioners Court has lost two large state-federal Community Development Block Grants during the last two years, including a $598,000 CDBG grant to improve the flooding and drainage problems experienced by Las Quintas Fronterizas Subdivision and El Indio Highway area and another $1 Million CDBG grant for Colonias Self-Help Center and remodeling of homes within Colonias in Maverick County.
Furthermore, Maverick County has also sustained losses of $2.3 Million during the 2011 and 2012 fiscal year budgets and took over the management of its Maverick County Detention Center on November 1, 2013, which is currently in default of its principal payments of the $42.3 Million Bonds and undergoing negotiations with the Trustee and Bondholders of the $42.3 Million debt in a desperate attempt to avoid foreclosure and the loss of jobs in the community.
The independence and integrity of the Office of Maverick County Auditor from any outside political influence and pressure is critical if Maverick County is to survive the serious financial problems it is facing today and in the future.
Maverick County Commissioners Court will be represented at the March 20th special meeting of the three-judge panel by County Judge David R. Saucedo, County Commissioner Roberto Ruiz, County Treasurer Rito J. Valdez, III, and Certified Public Accountant Milo Martinez of Martinez, Rosario & Company, LLP, of San Antonio, Texas.
Maverick County Auditor Ortiz will also present four persons in support of his reappointment. Other candidates who have applied will more than likely be allowed to present four persons in support of their candidacy.
Maverick County taxpayers anxiously await the three-judge panel’s decision on who will be appointed as Maverick County Auditor.
