King William Transparency and Accountability (2026)

14/02/2025

For those interested in analysis of the most recent KW Audit, I have included below the slides and emails shared with King William County BoS and Administration on 1/31/25.

The primary concerns show a lack of attention to detail that leads you to consider what more could be incorrect. Some of the observations included:
* Errors in the listing of Principal Officers for the fiscal year.
* $2.5 million in unreported expenses that were not publicly presented in the original budget or subsequent amendments.
* Lack of description or narrative regarding the “Split Levy.”
* A $66,000 expense discrepancy in contributions to the regional library, exceeding the appropriated amount and what PRL has reported.
* Inconsistent reporting of the number of KWC employees.
* Other observations related to deficiencies, future pronouncements, and contingencies outlined in the CAFR.

While there may be valid explanations for these concerns, I believe this further highlights the persistent issues in KW’s financial management. While I acknowledge improvements this past calendar year, I urge the Board and Administration to recognize that a local government audit does not carry the same level of scrutiny as a corporate audit and should not be considered an endorsement of our financial integrity.

Slides that follow: A preliminary review of the recently completed Annual Financial Report has revealed a variety of concerns, errors, and discrepancies in this audit. Some screenshots may appear small, but it is expected you have access to the original documents for reference as needed.

17/09/2024

Financial Statement Integrity: This presentation was prepared and reviewed with King William County Administration, Finance, 3rd party Auditors, and the KW BoS Chair & Vice Chair on 2/29/24. It reveals that in KW Audited financial statements from FY20 to FY23, local tax revenue was overstated by $10.8 million—without any form of financial disclosure. No other county in Virginia has these discrepancies, even Westmoreland who also has a split levy and hires the same audit firm. The auditing firm should be held accountable to publicly address these discrepancies.

NOTE: This is not an accusation that any money or funds are/are not missing. It highlights serious flaws in the integrity of our reporting and the underlying data. Data integrity is required in order to make informed decisions and to establish benchmarks and baselines needed to measure the perforance of King William now and in the future.

17/09/2024

Financial reporting accuracy is a critical requirement to making informed decisions. If we can’t trust past data, how can we trust any data in the future until this is resolved?

This snapshot compares data from different financial reports. The numbers simply don’t match for the same fiscal value. Even if a number is wrong, it should be wrong in each report. For example, King William Sales & Use Tax figures differ from one report to another by over $1M each year, when all other localities reviewed are the same. Public Library Expenses also differ from various reports published and provided by Administration.

04/11/2023

KW FINANCIAL STATEMENT MISMANGEMENT!
(link to six minute video below)

Citizens deserve to know what has been uncovered and the opportunity to make informed decisions.

There is a lot to unpack here and multiple groups at fault, the KW BoS, Administration, Finance, and the 3rd Party Auditors - all paid in KW tax dollars and are supposed to be representing the taxpayer's best interest - but are they?

This accounting change was intentional and was made in 2020 under the current Board and with a new Audit firm. These misleading, overstated financial statements were then used to secure loans on the back of the KW taxpayer.

Maybe they accepted it thinking it wasn't their responsibility? Maybe they didn't even look at it? Maybe they were all in on it? I honestly do not know.

What I do know is this. What you see here is FINANCIAL STATEMENT FRAUD in any publicly traded company. Overstating and inflating revenues and choosing not to disclose a major accounting change, plain and simple.

What has become very clear is public companies and public governments have different standards for financial accountability. Public companies undergo full audits and are regulated by the government to ensure shareholders are not mislead.

Shouldn't local governments be held to the same standard? They are not - the level of audit is simply a reasonable assurance audit, one that was never intended to catch fraud. It states this very clearly in the report!

Where and what legal accountability sits within the Commonwealth is still to be determined. Discussions with multiple State agencies, each shocked by this finding, have said they do not have the authority or jurisdiction. Each has also stated accountability always starts at the local level.

We citizen voters are the first line of defense to holding government accountable. and it starts at the polling booth, holding those that allowed this to happen accountable.

We the People.

A detailed six minute video explains this in detail. https://www.facebook.com/KWTransparency/posts/pfbid0rE7KpBGBsVLBNRcg6DAfKJa26Tyvdg3wK1W8DXRFnaqCapDRCdF39tDevMsXvzbkl?mibextid=eTXpx5

03/11/2023

The video highlights the Financial Statement Fraud found in the FY2020, FY2021, & FY2022 Annual Reports & Audit. King William failed to disclose material accounting changes and overstated revenue by $10.8 million over a 3-year period. This also resulted in a misstatement of funding of KWCPS due state school aid passed through and made to look like local sales tax revenue.

30/10/2023

KING WILLIAM VIOLATES FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT

This is the 3rd time King William told us they didn't have what was requested by FOIA. The 3rd time they were proven wrong when another agency was able to provide the documents they said didn't exist.

This FOIA project was undertaken to help all citizens understand what is going on in our government and what needs to be addressed.

Do you like to be lied to by the BoS and administration you fund? Watch the videos and judge for yourself.

Management Letters are a standard part of the audit deliverable. They are provided outside of the formal Comprehensive Annual Report (CAFR) and contain observations and suggestions for management that are identified by the auditor and are not required to be in the CAFR. They are a great tool and a deliverable we pay for.

King William County's response to our FOIA was these documents do not exist and further they do not even know what we were talking about!

HOW CAN THAT BE WHEN:
1. The State Auditor of Public Accounts provided KW management letters the County couldn't
and
2. KW BOS VIDEO EVIDENCE REFERENCES THE EXISTANCE OF THE DOCUMENTS!

FY2019
January 27, 2020 21:20 https://youtu.be/A7FSdsk7f2M?si=KGpJyZcaulVS8pJE&t=1275
In a discussion on documents provided outside of the CAFR “The next thing is the Comprehensive Audit Internal Controls and other suggestions for your consideration. The Management Letter essentially”

FY2020
January 25, 2021 20:53 https://youtu.be/D6uOYXs5r80?si=d3kEb6oFcSYXjZ6m&t=1253
“A Management letter is something we issue outside of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report.” “I did review with the County Administrator, and the County Finance Director”

FY2021
September 26, 2022 28:45 https://youtu.be/GrNJgwWj-1o?si=Kzcatk2xG4PObQ7i&t=1702
“What we would send out in a separate letter, and we still may send out a separate management letter that has little internal control things we notice along the way”

FY2022
May 22, 2023 44:45 https://youtu.be/C-IxeAdCC1M?si=bT-M_0Zm6pdMn9OI&t=2686
“I did issue a separate management letter which I gave to the Board Chair. It’s separate from the audit.“

25/10/2023

WHAT HAPPENED TO OPEN GOVERNMENT AND TRANSPARENCY?

FACTS. These are screenshots and words from the County Attorney invoice (received by FOIA) that clearly describe the actions of the Board and attempts to take control of the Constitutional Offices of the Treasurer and the Commissioner of the Revenue behind the citizens back - never discussed or presented in open meetings!

Why did all of this happen in the dark? Open Government of the people, by the people, for the people mean anything?

Why didn't the Board reach out to our General Assembly representatives (who would need to approve any change) for these options? That wouldn't have cost anything!

Why did the attorney put so much detail into the description knowing it was being FOIA each month? Were they telegraphing the Board of Supervisor's back room discussions to the people?

Why did the BoS send a letter to the Judge against the paid advice of the County Attorney? (The Judge denied the Board's request in the letter to not follow State Code!)

FOIA request for the memo drafted by the County Attorney was not provided by King William. At their discretion they claimed client attorney privilege. While that is a choice they can make, the citizens of King William pay the attorney bills, not the Board. It's very clear what was being requested when reviewing the invoice.

Why wasn't any of this discussed in the open with the people? Why did it all happen BEHIND CLOSED DOORS?

23/10/2023

TAX INCREASE WARNING: King William's own data show an inability to scale Government Operations as the number of residents increases year over year.

With population growth on the rise, this is a leading indicator for a tax increase in the coming years unless leaders understand these issues and take action!

Board of Supervisor incumbents and their supporters are pushing back on calls to "run government more like a business" focusing only on one difference between the public and private sector, that businesses are for profit.

That is a red herring - a distraction - and has NEVER been the premise for running government like a business.

Why aren't the incumbents presenting information of their own to show improvements over their term? Can we afford another 4 years of no improvements?

The real call is to leverage commonplace capabilities found in successful businesses. Some examples include: collecting and reporting on key performance metrics regularly, improving operational efficiency and standardization, successful deployment of technology, a focus on customer service and satisfaction, serving customers (citizens) with a high level of respect and appreciation. There are others, but these are the business best practices that need to be applies to government. Other localities in the Commonwealth are doing it, why not King William?

16/10/2023

KING WILLIAM BUDGETS AND FINANCIALS LACK TRANSPARENCY

Each year the County is required to set a budget, present to the public, hold public hearings, and it is ultimately approved by resolution.

At the completion of the Fiscal Year KW Finance and the auditor prepares the Annual Financial report.

Shouldn't we be able to have line of sight from one to the other - they are both ORIGINAL BUDGETS?

When the two are compared there are OVER $4M in EXPENSES ADDED to the annual report that were NOT IN THE APPROVED BUDGET RESOLUTION.

I asked Finance this question and was told one is the "finance" version, the other is the "auditor" version.

That's concerning because aren't they BOTH supposed to be the KING WILLIAM FINANCIALS - how do we know what is right?

Why can't they explain and justify the differences at the line item level - I asked over a month ago with no response.

Why hasn't the Board of Supervisors identified this major discrepancy?

13/10/2023

BUSINESS GROWTH UNDER THE CURRENT BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FLATLINED ACCORDING TO STATE TAX DATA

The graph below speaks volumes for the performance of King William County over the past 3 years.

As business owners in the County we've seen first hand how focus has been on part-time, illegitimate, out of county businesses and not those working hard every day in KW. Honestly, it's insulting. As a KW business grows, they pay more KW business taxes with nothing in return.

We are already seeing the impact of the increase in residential development over the years and the spending spree the Board has been on to add additional services and potentially a new high school. Without business & industry tax growth it will be the homeowners and existing businesses footing the bill alone.

Some Examples:
Waiving all license requirements for vendors attending county sponsored events – no tax revenue at events that are in part funded by those businesses that do pay taxes.

43% of the newly formed EDA Business Roundtable members do not have a KW business license - and were cherry picked behind closed doors.

No legitimate business growth while Illegitimate businesses run rampant without enforcement.

No focus on business appreciation or retention.

10/10/2023

TAKING AWAY THE SCHOOLS RAINY DAY FUND
When something isn't going your way, can you just change the rules?

Our Board of Supervisors have done just that. Last week I shared with you how they have drawn the reserve (unassigned) fund, a.k.a. the rainy day fund, below the approved financial policy levels.

That was just the first part - the real concern is they don't believe they are below the 20% level. Why? Because they removed the KWCPS expense from the formula! They made this change sometime in the last month BEHIND CLOSED DOORS and without transparency!

Surely if this was on the up and up they would have brought attention to this and would have been transparent in this change. They weren't and they did this without changing the policy and without disclosure to the taxpayer (whose money it is in the fund)!

So now, if we needed to tap into this rainy day fund, the schools will be left without and money to cover their rainy day!!

04/10/2023

WHERE’S THE PEOPLES MONEY??
If you weren’t paying attention the Board of Supervisors authorized $1,700,000 to purchase land on 360 on Monday night. Before that it was over $1M to cover the tax rate reduction on personal property. The list goes on and on!

There’s a Library/Community Center design project that’s funded and we haven’t heard an update on that in months! A $4,000,000 placeholder has been floated for that project.

A government complex design project is supposed to start soon, and the Board of Supervisor have been looking into debt/borrowing options.

It’s no wonder when you look at some of the fund balances and how they have dwindled away under this Board.

Now the Unassigned Fund, the fund we have for “rainy days” or unexpected events has fallen below the minimum requirement in the KW Financial Policy.

Wake up and take note how your money is being managed by KW Board of Supervisors!

King William Transparency and Accountability

14/02/2025

17/09/2024

17/09/2024

04/11/2023

03/11/2023

30/10/2023

25/10/2023

23/10/2023

16/10/2023

13/10/2023

10/10/2023

04/10/2023

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