Watchdog flags discrepancy in road bond
Posted/updated on: December 19, 2025 at 10:09 pm
SMITH COUNTY — 
A Smith County road bond approved by voters nearly a decade ago now shows a $7 million discrepancy between financial reports and is projected to cost more than $135 million, prompting a local watchdog group to call for a forensic audit. Grassroots America, a Smith County-based conservative advocacy nonprofit that monitors government spending, raised the concerns Tuesday during the Smith County Commissioners Court meeting.
What is the Road Bond Program?
The group questioned Smith County’s Road Bond Program, which received 73% of the votes in the Nov. 7, 2017, election.
County officials said the process of developing the Road and Bridge Capital Improvement Plan began two years prior, when they hired Atkins Engineering to analyze the condition of each road in the county. The Atkins report found:
12% of roads were in excellent to very good shape
51% of roads were in good shape
37% of roads were in poor shape
Based on the findings, the Road Bond Program was separated into Phase I, estimated to cost $39.5 million, and Phase II, which would cost $45 million. Phase II was approved with 62.4% of voter approval in 2021.
Each phase was given a three-year delivery window, for a total six-year project timeline. However, according to a March 11 report, the project has now entered its ninth year, raising concerns among Grassroots America members.
Watchdog Group alleges cost overruns and missing funds
Grassroots board member Tom Fabry told commissioners the project had fallen years behind schedule and tens of millions of dollars over budget, creating what the group described as a gap between what voters were promised and what has been delivered.
The nonprofit now urges the court to order a forensic and compliance audit of Phase 1 and Phase 2 bond funds.
Over the past decade, the group noted a rise in traffic volumes and the deterioration of roadways.
The report showed that Phase 1 of the project is about 40% complete, but is $7 million above budget. Fabry says what was originally projected to be a $84.5 million project is now reported to cost $135.2 million, around a 60% increase over the original estimate.
$7 million of the Phase 1 work is not accounted for in the documentation provided by Smith County, the nonprofit alleges. The March files allegedly show duplicated line items for individual road projects, making it appear that more major reconstruction work had been completed than actually occurred.
“There is a ton more detail that a full audit would uncover that does not pass a statistical sniff test,” Fabry said.
Grassroots Executive Director JoAnne Fleming said she first raised the discrepancies with the court in February, nearly 10 months ago, and noted that regular project updates to commissioners were discontinued in 2022.
“Getting this road bond project reconciled and getting an honest assessment to the people of Smith County is a dire need,” Fleming said.
