(The Center Square) – Leadership in North Carolina’s seventh largest municipality, all Democrats on the Town Council and in the mayor’s office, have been recommended to “reengineer the environment” displayed in an auditor’s report showing lavish spending, unchecked VISA card use by town employees and a lack of financial oversight.
Cary, population of more than 183,000 and grown by more than 13,000 since the outbreak of COVID-19 according to the Office of State Budget and Management, had multiple procedural and policy violations using taxpayer dollars, said the investigative report of first-term Republican state Auditor Dave Boliek. Included were high-cost meals, alcohol, hotel cancellation and no-show charges, travel expenses, council-related purchases and spending for retreats and promotional activities.
The Town Council in its $573.5 million budget approval on June 25 approved an increase of 2.75 cents per $100 assessed value of property, raising the property tax rate to 36.75 cents; put in a 4% raise of the overall utility rate applied to the base charge; and increased the solid waste and recycling fee $2 per month to $28.
What began as multiple tip line requests to consider misconduct by former Town Manager Sean Stegall led to additional information on the Town Council, staff and town employees. Boliek said the additional information “was deemed to be of sufficient relevance to warrant inclusion in this report for completeness and transparency.”
“Public dollars being thrown around carelessly while taxes are being raised only creates distrust in government,” Boliek said. “This report brings spending to light and shows a true accounting of where tax dollars go in Cary. The public has a right to be frustrated, and hopefully this will result in much-needed financial restraint and discipline in the future.”
The 2,595 pages show a lack of fiscal responsibility by Mayor Harold Weinbrecht; Mayor Pro Tempore Lori Bush; and Town Council members Carissa Kohn-Johnson, Brittany Richards, Michelle Craig, Bella Huang and Sarika Bansal. All are Democrats, according to public records research by The Center Square; town government elections are nonpartisan.
The town manager on an interim basis since Dec. 15 is Russ Overton. His budget proposal had recommended a 3.75 cents hike on property taxes.
In response to the report, Weinbrecht says there were “gaps in oversight.” He said council members didn’t know costs. Stegall was hired in 2016, resigned last year, and the mayor paints the relationship as a “breach of trust.”
Yet, the report found:
• A dinner purchased for two in Atlanta, including two 20-oz ribeye steaks that were $120 each and a $48 glass of wine.
• Dinner costing $4,164 for the Town Council and staff at Rey’s Restaurant, a fine-dining steakhouse in Raleigh.
• A $3,419 penthouse stay for Stegall.
• Executive van costing $733 to transport town employees 12 miles to attend the Wake County Mayor’s Association Holiday Dinner.
• Ten pairs, total $1,600, of Ray-Ban sunglasses for Town Council members. Council membership is six.
• Council members were given a car allowance of $9,626 each year, or $802 a month.
• The town spent $121,314 on video production for its 2024 retreat in Wilmington. This included production costs for filming a performance at the retreat and a documentary about how the performance came to be.
In addition to the car allowance, council members also had a $3,500 monthly expense allowance, Boliek said.
Cary’s three decades old deal swelling its bank account should end, said state Rep. Erin Paré, R-Wake.
“There should be no question now that Cary’s 30-year outdated sweetheart deal in state law guaranteeing the town 5% of all occupancy tax revenues generated in all of Wake County, every single year, which is well over $2 million per year and growing, must end now. There’s no transparency in spending this money. No reporting requirements. No accountability. They clearly have too much money, and too little integrity.”
In a town meeting to answer questions of residents Thursday, Weinbrecht said he has earned the expensive meals, transportation and gifts from taxpayers' dollars.
“Municipalities pay councils in different ways,” he told the audience. “I’ll just say this. You can take my entire paycheck, and it doesn’t add up to minimum wage with the hours I put in. So, if you want to fault me for that, go ahead. I get paid $29,000 a year, probably work 60 hours a week. It’s basically a stipend.”
He wasn’t alone in defense. Kohn-Johnson’s offering at the same gathering viewed the position as full-time employment rather than elected public service – or as the town website says, “elected by residents to set the policies and priorities that shape the community.”
“My W-2 for 2024 was $27,050,” Kohn-Johnson said in the same gathering. “That was everything. That was before thousands of dollars in taxes. And that is driving around a 60-square mile town, in my own car, on my own dime, on my own gas, with my own insurance, with my own cellphone, with my own electronics, on my own internet – we don’t have offices here. So, I don’t think that stipend is unreasonable. There’s minimal compensation offered to council.”
For context, members of the state Senate and House of Representatives are paid $13,951 annually with monthly expense of $559 and per diem of $104 when in session in Raleigh. They do have offices in the Legislative Building.
To get context on the population, city employees and number of procurement cards including by percentage, the report lists the state’s top 10 by population. Cary’s 1,328 employees have 828 p-cards, and the 62% dwarfs the next closest 33% of Concord – 10th in population at 114,598 with 1,325 employees and 435 cards.
Charlotte, population 964,784 and 14th largest city in the nation, compared to Cary has 781,202 more population, 7,708 more employees and just 45 more p-cards. Raleigh, state’s second largest population at 506,306, compared to Cary has 322,724 more population, 2,928 more employees and 160 fewer p-cards.
Fayetteville and Wilmington are Nos. 6 and 8 in population sandwiching Cary in state population. Fayetteville compared to Cary has 25,538 more population, 805 more employees and 581 fewer p-cards. Wilmington compared to Cary has 56,773 less population, 228 fewer employees, and 728 fewer p-cards.
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