It is all laid out in black and white, Domingo Hinojosa told Action 4 News.
"Had they asked us and allotted us the opportunity to explain this-- this would not have come out as negative as it did," Hinojosa explained.
As he flips through the pages of numbers line up in columns—Hinojosa says the Hidalgo County audit conducted on the department is not factual.
Hinojosa claimed that he could prove all of the money in question was accounted for—but no one asked for records.
"We went back to our QuickBooks and we found that everything that was under the 40-thousand dollars had a bank slip and deposit slip attached to it," Hinojosa explained.
As for the $79,000 in travel expenses the department supposedly incurred over a four year period…Hinojosa said there is no way they traveled that much.
"95 percent of this stuff were incentives that were paid to the firefighters for their time,” Hinojosa said.
“Reimbursement for their fuel, insurance, wear and tear on their vehicle…they were also paid per call/per training basis for attendance."
The investigation, Hinojosa said, has divided this once unified department.
And the community that used to rally behind them are now skeptical, Hinojosa said.
Because of this, he has decided to step down as fire chief—a decision that was not easy to make.
"It was a very painful decision. At the end of the day I do have the departments interest and the communities interest in mind."
Action 4 News did contact Hidalgo County and they said they cannot comment at this time because the case remains under investigation.
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