HONDO, Texas – City of Hondo officials this month blocked the release of findings from audits into the police department’s Blue Santa program and pay increases for city staff.
Pay logs from the fall of 2020 through the spring of 2021, obtained by KSAT Investigates through a public records request, show numerous employees were given raises between 30% and 93%, with pay increases often occurring just months apart.
Some increases lacked proper documentation, including compensation pay studies, a source briefed on the audits told KSAT.
Hondo city officials did not respond to multiple emails from KSAT for comment on this story and did not respond to a request for clarification on whether the interim city manager at the time was earning a salary as both city manager and police chief.
Pay log records indicate he was drawing a salary from both positions as of October 2020, pushing his pay to nearly $93 an hour.
A separate employee saw her salary increase 93% between October 2020 and January 2021. The increases included two promotions and a cost of living adjustment, records show.
A second employee got an 82% salary increase between October 2020 and March 2021. The increases included a promotion, a cost of living adjustment followed by a $3.25 raise per hour for “additional duties,” records show.
City officials last week, through an attorney, declined to release the results of the pay increase audit, claiming doing so “would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime.”
The audit was scheduled to be discussed in executive session on Aug. 28, city council records show.
City officials have also been silent on a separate audit into the police department’s Blue Santa program, which was initiated due to allegations of impropriety. The program, which is run by numerous police departments across the country, provides gifts to disadvantaged children and their families during the holidays.
The results of the audit, which looked into the handling of funds in the program has concluded. Its findings were reviewed by the city and have since been turned over to law enforcement, a source familiar with the investigation told KSAT.