The Argyle Town Council this week considered a request for funding from the local Emergency Services District and awarded a grant in the amount higher than requested.
In November, former Fire Chief Mac Hohenberger was indicted by a federal grand jury  on charges of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the firefighters’ pension funds. He has since pleaded guilty to federal charges and is awaiting sentencing.
As a result of Hohenberger’s alleged budgeting inaccuracies and expenditure misreporting, Denton County ESD No. 1 (formerly the Argyle Fire District) found itself with a budget shortfall of about $1.9 million this fiscal year. The district has been working on finding different solutions to the enormous problem, including seeking a credit line extension and asking the communities it serves to help it make ends meets. The Lantana Education/Charitable Foundation recently approved a $300,000 grant to help with the shortfall, and the Northlake Town Council has awarded the district a $100,000 grant, roughly $10 per town resident.
During Monday’s council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Ron Schmidt and Councilman Casey Stewart criticized the lack of oversight the former district boards and chief had, and they questioned ESD leaders about how they’re trying to address the problem. Schmidt said he worried the district may ask for more money, and Stewart had harsh words about the district’s public relations.
“Right now — and this is the optics of the situation — you represent the worst in bad government,” Stewart said to Fire Chief Ricky Vaughan and ESD Board President Sheldon Gilbert. “You’ve never said anything about reducing your expenses or looking for efficiencies … I’m sure you’re doing that, but it would improve your optics if you would lead with that.
“I applaud you for the gall to come up here and ask us for money.”
Gilbert took his point and described several ways the district has cut costs, such as converting employees’ retirement plans to a government plan that is saving the district nearly $500,000 this year.
“We’ve pretty much canceled all capital replacement for the year,” Gilbert said. “We’ve minimized staff, minimized overtime, there’s no off-site training going on. There’s nothing going on other than running calls and meeting the community’s needs.”
Schmidt listed specific concerns about poor past budgetary records and the state of the current budget (which was set by the former board and chief), and current ESD leaders said they agreed, and they’re working to fix the problems they inherited.
“Given the history that the ESD — none of you — has had, and the fact that there was oversight, there has to be some consequences here,” Schmidt said. “To keep throwing money at something without having some plan … you’re going to have to help me here but at this time, my answer’s no.”
Vaughan and Gilbert explained throughout the meeting that they do have multiple short-term and long-term plans to address the budgetary issues, and they promised transparency throughout the process. At one point, Gilbert pledged to give the money back if the council was displeased with its budget and answers in future meetings.
Schmidt also brought up the fact that only three of five board members were replaced and a forensic audit hasn’t been completed. ESD leaders explained that the Denton County Commissioners Court chose the board members, and the forensic audit had to be stopped because the district doesn’t have the money to pay for it, but it will as soon as it does.
Bradford praised the current leadership for “taking your lumps” and how hard they’ve worked to keep the district going.
“You inherited a house of cards, and it collapsed,” Mayor Rick Bradford said.
Council member Cyndi Hermann said she wanted to support the firefighters and she has faith in leadership to make the right financial decisions.
Despite his tough questions, Stewart said “Argyle is enjoying a windfall of property taxes. It’s not going to last forever … I can’t think of a better way to spend it than to help these guys through their recovery process. I think we should do more than $40,000.”
Schmidt said he wanted to wait to approve the request until he could comb through the district’s budget himself, but the rest of council was ready to approve the request immediately.
Like Northlake, Argyle wanted to grant roughly $10 per resident. The ESD requested $44,030, because the 2020 U.S. census reported 4,403 residents in Argyle. However, the current population is estimated to be about 5,600, council members said, so council voted 3-1 to approve a $56,000 grant, with only Schmidt voting against.