HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A city of Houston audit shows not only was no one paying attention to the gas card for city vehicles, but workers were wasting taxpayer dollars by paying more for fuel at gas stations instead of city-run fuel locations.<\/p>\n
A new audit<\/a> caught Houston City Council Member Fred Flickinger’s attention. Not just because of what was in it, but he has a personal connection.<\/p>\n Flickinger said he used to manage fleet fuel programs at private businesses 30 years ago, which is why he couldn’t believe it when he learned the city’s fuel cards aren’t assigned to each person.<\/p>\n “I was kind of surprised they didn’t have similar, and they’ve got multiple users of the same card, which I don’t understand how you can go back and hold any individual accountable,” Flickinger said.<\/p>\n This week, the budget committee heard about an audit into the fuel card program from 2022 to 2024. What they learned is that $3.5 million was spent at gas stations within 3 miles of city pumps.<\/p>\n City policy states employees should forgo a gas station if one of the city’s 65 fuel locations is within three miles. The documents also show that more than $500,000 was spent on vehicles the city no longer considers active.<\/p>\n “I’ve found in my experience with employees when you don’t have good controls, employees know it, and the good people will still do things right, but occasionally you get some bad people and they won’t do the right thing,” Flickinger explained.<\/p>\n The audit wasn’t just concerning to council members, but also to Controller Chris Hollins. “Just being frank with you, the monitoring has been too lax,” Hollins said. “Plain and simple.”<\/p>\n Hollins, whose office did the audit, said they’re looking into possible misuse, including why certain fuel was purchased when the vehicle doesn’t use it. “We don’t have video of what took place in that moment and what car was being fueled in that moment, but there are some of these discrepancies that would at least make us want to say we need to look at this further,” Hollins explained.<\/p>\n Hollins said it’s not just misuse, but savings. Here’s why.<\/p>\n The audit shows the city pays a lot less for fuel than it is sold at gas stations. For unleaded fuel, it’s about 30 cents, and for diesel, it’s around 50 cents cheaper.<\/p>\n “If you can look across the street and it’s five cents cheaper, you’ll go over there,” Hollins said. “But when we can save 30 or 50 cents a gallon by using the city-owned fuel stations, that’s the importance of it because that adds up pretty quick.”<\/p>\n Hollins said because of the audit, they’re making changes, including knowing where the cards are and who’s using them. Also, they plan to increase training so city workers are using the correct pumps.<\/p>\n Changes, city council members said, are needed as they look for ways to close a deficit that they say could be more than $200 million.<\/p>\n “It’s important that we have the public’s trust, that they know we don’t have fraud and theft going on,” Flickinger said.<\/p>\n The audit didn’t just focus on city workers who use the cards, but their supervisors too. Auditors discovered 91% of the fuel cards weren’t reviewed or monitored whatsoever.<\/p>\n For updates on this story, follow Nick Natario on Facebook<\/a>, X<\/a> and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2025 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n