(The Center Square) – No penalty for failure to pay a water bill by a town commissioner, or by an employee manipulating the system, have been discovered in a North Carolina town through a state audit started from a tip line.
State Auditor Dave Boliek on Thursday said his team “took a deep dive” into the finances of Mount Olive, a community of about 4,200 in Wayne County and home to the well-known pickle brand of the same name. In addition to the malfeasance in the Water Department, the Mount Olive Municipal Airport was flagged for improper fuel purchasing.
Lost revenue for the town was $210,837, the audit says, from October 2023 to February of this year. Twelve recommendations involving the airport, two for the Water Department and another for the Town Hall were made by Boliek’s staff.
“The town takes these allegations seriously and will work to improve processes related to fiscal mismanagement,” Glenn Holland, the interim town manager, said in the report’s response section.
The audit and a release from Boliek’s office said, “Hundreds of water cutoff fees, which are issued if a customer fails to pay their monthly utility bill, were voided each month. The Water Department employee who voided the fees also manipulated the system so her own water service was not disconnected despite not paying her own utility bills.”
And, “A sitting town commissioner failed to pay his utility bill for several months, but his water service was never disconnected. His $100 cutoff fee was voided nine times.” His outstanding bill had reached $942 when the auditors stepped in, with no payments made in all of 2024.
The airport operator has a contract to purchase aviation fuel. Instead, the town was making the purchase, the audit found. And, the airport operator was found to be allowing “in-house credit” with the town finance director having “no process to verify monthly fuel commission invoices from the airport operator.”
The auditors also checked in on allegations related to tourism tax revenue, Wi-Fi and telephone fiscal responsibilities at the airport, commercial water rates, and employee timesheets.
