Galveston auditor looking into why park board employees cut checks to family members

GALVESTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Just days after a former Galveston Park Board employee pled guilty to theft, city leaders revealed the money issues could be much worse.

During a special city council meeting on Wednesday, leaders received an update on an audit into the parks board and how hotel tax money has been spent.

"Potential misuse," city council member Alex Porretto said. "Do we want to spend the HOT tax on the things that we saw? I don't think the public would appreciate it because I certainly didn't. I didn't know that was what the money was being spent on."

The full report wasn't made public. That's because the auditor is still finishing it.

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However, some details were revealed. The auditor said he found issues such as parks board employees using taxpayer money for their own private businesses, and cutting checks to people they know.

"The check was cut to a park board employee's wife, and it was for a training project," auditor Glenn Bulgherini explained. "During that investigation, some inconsistencies came up in the interviews."

The audit comes on the heels of a former parks board employee who pled guilty to stealing more than $40,000 from a lifeguard fund. Documents reveal she withdrew money from ATMs in casinos across the country.

READ MORE: $40,000 discovered missing from Galveston lifeguard group, triggering multiple investigations

But a city audit also revealed Angela Barton misused $13,000 of taxpayer dollars on items such as hotels, dresses and kitchen curtains. While she's now on probation, Mayor Craig Brown said the council should wait to take action until the report is finished.

"Some of the accusations that are being said have not been researched completely, and some of these accusations that have been made have not been completely and objectively verified by our city auditor," Brown said.

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It's time some on the council fear they don't have and want the report released to make changes.

"The goal is to put in some guardrails," Porretto explained. "Not to advocate to take the park boards funds away, but to put in guardrails so we can assure that we don't see a continuation of the spending."

The report could be released as soon as next week. The park board released information last year saying it's not waiting to make changes. They've changed procedures involving credit cards, checks, and new trainings.

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