For the last 11 years, Kaua‘i County has gone without a charter-mandated independent auditor to examine government operations. 

That’s not for lack of trying. The County Council has initiated at least seven recruitments to find a new head auditor to lead the empty office, even going so far as to hire an executive search firm in 2018 for $30,000. The efforts have resulted in few qualified candidates and a rejected offer. 

The council posted the head auditor opening again at the end of March. With a salary of nearly $154,000, the auditor would be charged with conducting audits of county funds, programs and operations. But for now, Kaua‘i is the only county in the state without a staffed auditor’s office that instead contracts with an outside firm to conduct audits as directed by the council. 

This comes as the council evaluates the mayor’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, which includes for the auditor’s office roughly $535,500 to pay a certified public accounting firm to conduct the county’s yearly financial audit, plus money for any change orders. The council also has $600,000 in its own budget to contract for performance audits. 

“It’s an invaluable, important role that needs to be filled, and the charter says that the people voted overwhelmingly for that,” said Gary Hooser, a former Kaua‘i council member and state senator who has highlighted the need for an independent auditor. 

In other counties, audits have helped expose shoddy record-keeping for Hawai‘i island’s affordable housing credit program; that Honolulu’s rail system was limited by inadequate marketing and a clunky payment system; and possible instances of fraud, waste and abuse in Maui’s emergency procurements made during the pandemic.

A Full-Time, Independent Auditor

Nearly 64% of Kaua‘i voters supported the creation of a county auditor’s office in 2008. The charter amendment was introduced by then-council member Jay Furfaro. 

Under the county charter, the head auditor is granted full access to county officers and employees and can inspect any county record, as well as administer oaths, subpoena witnesses and compel the production of pertinent records. The auditor is to be appointed by the County Council and serve a six-year term so that the position is not subject to election cycles. The council can remove the auditor from office with a two-thirds vote. 

A long-time county clerk, Ernesto Pasion, was appointed the county’s first auditor in September 2009. His office performed 11 audits and produced two reports. The reports were tailored to citizens and included information on various performance measures for county departments, such as the average response time to emergencies, number of parkgoers and the number of building inspections performed. 

A 2011 performance audit found that despite furloughs in the second half of 2010, the county paid $1.3 million more for electricity that year than in 2009. A 2012 audit of fuel costs found that the county wasn’t fully accounting for fuel usage. Irregularities identified during the audit process were investigated by an outside law firm, leading to the indictment of the county’s human resources manager for allegedly aiding then-Mayor Bernard Carvalho in illegally using a county gas card. Those charges were dismissed a couple weeks later. 

Carvalho, who is now serving as a council member and running for mayor, said the audit helped expose why the longstanding practice of mayors using county-issued gas cards for their private vehicles was not a good one. He stopped that practice. 

Pasion was scrutinized by the council after that audit and later filed a civil suit against the county alleging retaliation. He died from brain cancer in October 2015.  

In the absence of a head auditor, the council has contracted an outside firm to conduct eight performance audits — with five more expected in the near future — and the Office of the County Clerk has contracted a certified public accounting firm to prepare the county’s Comprehensive Annual Financial Report and related audit reports.

Meghan Wright, a public information officer with the mayor’s office, said in an email that the administration supports the council’s authority to conduct performance audits of the administration.  

An Extensive Search 

The council has tried at least seven times to find a new county auditor, Council Chair Mel Rapozo said. One open recruitment lasted more than six years, from Jan. 16, 2016 to Feb. 19, 2022. The combined efforts have resulted in 164 applications, though only 28 applicants were deemed qualified.

In 2018, the council hired an executive search firm to identify potential candidates. An offer was made to a candidate in Washington State who ultimately declined because they were unable to relocate to Kaua‘i. 

Rapozo, during a break from serving on the council, even applied in 2019. He previously served as a financial crime investigator in the Kaua‘i Police Department. 

“That’s how strongly I felt that that office needed to be filled,” Rapozo, who’s also running for mayor this election, told Civil Beat.

Under the charter, the county auditor must have a bachelor’s in accounting, business administration, public administration or related field. The auditor must be certified as an internal auditor or public accountant or have an advanced degree in a relevant field and have five years of government auditing or analysis experience.

Finding candidates with those qualifications, who are willing to accept the county’s salary — currently posted at $154,000 — and can conduct, not just contract, performance audits are among the largest challenges to filling the role.

“That is the reason we had difficulty because we were trying to find an auditor that would do audits and not just be a contractor of audits,” Rapozo said at the council’s budget meeting last Thursday. “If we’re going to go hire someone to be a contractor of audits, then it’s a waste of money because the expense that comes along with an auditor and office is tremendous.”

Felicia Cowden, who has served as a council member since 2018, said the council tried hard to fill the position over the years and interviewed some of the candidates. Cowden, who is running for mayor, said she supports having a county auditor. 

If she wins the mayor’s race, however, Cowden said she would also like to see compliance responsibilities embedded in core high spending areas, such as the fire, police and emergency management departments. She said that would help departments reduce their risks of mistakes and be more proactive in ensuring they’re operating as efficiently as possible.

‘A Good Check And Balance’

Council member Fern Holland’s fall 2025 survey of residents found that 61% of the 227 who responded are “concerned” or “very concerned” about the absence of a permanent county auditor. Holland has served on the council since 2024, and the empty auditor position came onto her radar in part from constituent concerns. 

“There’s a genuine concern in the community about the position sitting vacant and what that means for accountability at the county level,” she said.

The county auditor would determine which performance audits to conduct — key to the auditor’s independence. The council, administration and public could also make suggestions. 

As a former mayor, Carvalho said having an independent auditor is important because everyone in the county government needs to be held accountable for their decisions.

“I think it’s a good check and balance overall,” he said. 

But that check and balance comes at a cost. When staffed, the auditor’s office had a budget of a little over $1 million. That included salaries for the head auditor, an administrative staff assistant, three staff auditors, as well as monies to contract a CPA firm for the county’s financial audit and additional support. 

“Councils going forward should always be striving to fill that position,” Rapozo said at the Thursday meeting. 

The council will be making decisions on the proposed budget in May. 

Civil Beat’s reporting on Kauaʻi is supported in part by a grant from the G. N. Wilcox Trust.