(The Center Square) – Laura Hogshead is no longer leading the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency.
Published reports, with confirmation from a spokeswoman in the Department of Public Safety, say Pryor Gibson now serves as the interim leader.
The two were in a joint legislative hearing on Monday and said the budget deficit faced by the department, also known as RebuildNC, could be as high as $265 million; projects for only 2,800 of 4,200 families have been completed since two major hurricanes eight and six years ago, respectively; and the agency owes $37 million for completed projects.
Hogshead, according to the Office of the State Controller salary database, drew an annual salary of $155,213.
Gibson on Monday asked the Hurricane Response and Recovery Subcommittee to trust the agency as relief from Hurricane Helene is distributed. During the testimony, the request of $175 million from Gov. Roy Cooper last month had slipped into a broader $3.9 billion Helene request that grew to $220 million, and Hogshead said it could reach $265 million.
With a $50 million appropriation in legislation on Wednesday, lawmakers have thus far thrown an $80 million lifeline to the troubled agency.
Hurricanes Matthew (2016) and Florence (2018) struck southeastern North Carolina, and Cooper created the office after the second hurricane. The southeastern part of the state eventually endured four hurricanes in 47 months, though Dorian (2019) and Isaias (2020) were of lesser damaging strength.
