Conroe, January 27 – Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Meador has transferred $2,737,025.30 from the Precinct 1 road budget into a wide variety of other expenditures having little or nothing to do with roads, since April, 2014. Meador slid $625,000.00 of the transferred funds over to “professional services” which largely represented payments to engineering firms and contractors who have provided large contributions to Meador, County Judge Craig Doyal, and some of their colleagues within the “axis of evil” (Meador, Doyal, Charlie Riley, and Jim Clark) on the Montgomery County Commissioners Court.
The Golden Hammer uncovered the “slush fund” transfers after noticing that millions of dollars of unbudgeted transfers of funds have occurred on the Consent Agenda (undiscussed in open meetings) portion of the Montgomery County Commissioners Court Agendas. The “slush funds” often spring from an unbudgeted account with the accounting suffix “-7997” which represents funds unspent within County departments from previous years. Another “slush fund” often utilized for purposes other than those for which the Commissioners previously budgeted them often contains the suffix “-7340” which contains funds budgeted for roads and asphalt but often utilized for other purposes, such as paying Christmas bonuses without public notice (hopefully). The County government has only partially responded to requests under the Public Information Act for documents pertaining to the “-7997” fund expenditures.
Numerous residents within Precinct 1 have complained about slow service in road repairs, while Commissioner Meador and his large and well-paid staff have responded that they lack a sufficient budget to provide road services. Many residents still suffer from unpaved roads, for which Meador and his operations team claim they lack sufficient budgeted funds. See “What the H, Commissioner Meador?” (The Golden Hammer, News, January 27, 2017). Meador transferred $579,357 from the budgeted road funds into road expenditures, while transferring the remainder of the $3,316,382.30 into non-road expenditures. In other words, Meador spent only 17.5% of the budgeted road funds on roads.
The non-road expenditures are an odd assortment. In addition to the transfers to Meador’s engineering and contractor friends, Meador spent almost $3 million of tax funds on lawn mowers, a “truck for Gerald,” other trucks, a contribution to a quango dedicated to parential visitation, and unbudgeted capital outlays. The full list of Meador’s transfers since April, 2014, follows:
Date Amount Transferred To?
April 14, 2014 $5,000.00 Airport Maintenance
May 13, 2014 $30,902 Truck for Gerald
May 14, 2014 $12,200 Zero Turn mower
May 30, 2014 $150,000 Professional svcs (engrs)
June 10, 2014 $100,000 Eqmt lease 1st payment
June 16, 2014 $27,218.00 2015 Chevy
June 17, 2014 $3,600.00 Travel expense
July 9, 2014 $53,356.00 2 work trucks
July 14, 2014 $12,900 Kubota Zero turn mower
August 5, 2014 $100,000 Professional svcs (engrs)
September 3, 2014 $100,000 Professional svcs (engrs)
September 16, 2014 $140,000 County park maintenance
September 16, 2014 $529,357.40 Asphalt and roads
September 30, 2014 $20,000.00 Access Builds Children
(Quango)
February 12, 2015 $45,000.00 Cptl outlay-Mach & eqmpt
February 13, 2015 $10,000.00 Cptl outlay-Mach & eqmpt
March 10, 2015 $282,854.36 Purchase ppty, relocat exp
June 16, 2015 $50,000 Sand/Gravel/Rock
June 16, 2015 $50,000 Sign maintenance
June 16, 2015 $30,000 Equipment rental
June 16, 2015 $97,503.85 Equipmnt lease/purchase
June 16, 2015 $125,000.00 County park maintenance
July 7, 2015 $75,000 Professional svcs (engrs)
August 7, 2015 $30,000.00 2015 Chevrolet Crew Cab
January 14, 2016 $145,902.28 Purch 2015 Kenworth truck
January 25, 2016 $240,000.00 Settlement Girl Scouts of
San Jacinto Council, League
Line Road Project
January 26, 2016 $89,422.00 Purchase Trail King Trailer
February 24, 2016 $100,000.00 Sign Maintenance
March 1, 2016 $120,000.00 612-7501 (capital outlays)
March 9, 2016 $100,000.00 Professional svcs (engrs)
March 31, 2016 $181,303.00 Purchase vehicles
April 1, 2016 $30,047.00 Purchase vehicles
July 21, 2016 $100,000.00 Professional svcs (engrs)
July 21, 2016 $100,000.00 Eqmpt rental
September 26, 2016 $29,817.00 Purchase vehicles
Subtotal $2,737,025.30 non-road
Subtotal $579,357 road
Total = $3,316,382.30
Commissioner Meador Transmogrifies Multimillion Dollar Road Fund Into “Slush” added by admin on
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