The Johnston County town of Benson is facing a budget shortfall of about $578,000. That’s according to a report prepared by former State Auditor Beth Wood, which she presented to town commissioners at a special meeting on July 28.
Commissioners hired Wood to examine spending. Among her findings: checks written to vendors but not mailed totaling $234,000 and $920,000 of open invoices. Other checks have been mailed but not cashed.
“And then I just put in some additional information of what's happening in early August,” she told the meeting. Those items include payments for employee benefits and retirement, which will put Benson another $123,000 in the hole.
Part of the problem, Wood said, is that the town may have used reimbursable grants or state funds for projects but never received reimbursement.
"An analysis needs to be done on every one of these projects to see where the money was supposed to come from, and if it was to come from grants or the state,” she said.
The spending review comes as Benson is experiencing a leadership transition. Longtime Mayor Jerry Benson died in November at the age of 87. Kim Pickett, who had served as town manager since 2014, left earlier this year for an assistant manager position in Smithfield.
“We're looking at each one of the projects as to where do they stand in terms of being able to get reimbursed. It is apparent that a good number of engineering fees and costs were paid up front,” interim manager Steven Harrell said after Wood’s presentation.
He told the board that he’ll have findings ready for their next meeting, where commissioners will consider measures to deal with the shortfall.
“So, what we're what we're planning to bring back to the board at your work session on Aug. 12 is an accounting of what we're finding out in these particular projects,” he said.
