I-Team: Audit claims Ex-Tarboro manager misused funds
TARBORO, N.C. (WTVD) -- A damning audit accuses a former Tarboro town manager of treating taxpayers funds like monopoly money.
"Handguns, holsters, life jackets, wetsuits, flashlights, coolers..." State Auditor Beth Wood kept going. She was running down the list of things her latest audit says were purchased by a former town manager in Tarboro, N.C. and billed to taxpayers.
"What you have is a town manager making questionable expenditures, making unnecessary expenditures, and not really watching over and administering the tax dollars like he should be," Wood said.
And according to the audit, all that spending added up. She says the former Tarboro manager billed taxpayers in this small town of just 11,000 people out of more than $450,000. Most of that, says Wood, was spent on unnecessary travel, nice meals, and hefty purchases at stores including Apple, Best Buy and Dicks Sporting Goods.
In one example offered by Wood, he "drove to Virginia to pick up a gift card at a Bass Pro-Shop and the expenditure when it was submitted, was for employee retention. The gift card was for someone who was retiring."
The auditor's report showed that "over a five-year period, he received nearly $85,000 in reimbursements for 455 trips that may not have been necessary. In addition, he received $7,000 in reimbursements for 289 potentially unnecessary meals at local restaurants in Tarboro during the same period."
What's more, Wood says the former town manager also dramatically increased his own benefits package without telling anyone.
"The insurance premium went from $1,200 a year to $9,000," said Wood.
The report doesn't name the former town manager, but Sam Noble held the job during the period covered by the report. Noble did not return our call; neither did the attorney reportedly representing him.
Wood's audit also calls into question the behavior of two other Tarboro employees. She said the town's current mayor, Rick Page, also skimmed tens of thousands in taxpayer money when he was working for the town in a different capacity.
According to the report, Page was reimbursed $30,000 for his health insurance policy but spent the money on his ex-wife's insurance as part of their divorce agreement.
"You've got the agreement that the town will pay for this supplemental policy," Wood said. "He submits reimbursements, but the reimbursements were for something different."
The mayor wouldn't answer the allegations telling ABC11 that he would "wait until all the investigations are complete." He's referring to an ongoing SBI investigation that the auditor's report sparked.
Wood's investigation also calls out a third Tarboro employee - a former accounting clerk - for quitting her job and illegally getting about $30,000 in unemployment benefits. You don't qualify for benefits unless you are actively looking, and available, for work every week. Wood says the former town worker took two month long trips during her unemployment - one to Hawaii, the other to Arizona.
Some in Tarboro seemed to not want to believe the charges. However, George Banks says if the allegations in the report are true, the town should be paid back.
"I should hope he admits to his wrongdoing and makes reparations," said Banks.
Town councilwoman Deborah Jordan agrees.
"I will vote with the majority," she said, "to follow the auditor's recommendation that we do with we can to get what's due to the town. The citizens deserve that."
Among Wood's key recommendations:
Wood's audit doesn't let the town council off easy.
"Our final finding," said the auditor, "was that council members weren't watching over expenditures for their town as well as they should be because that's where the ultimate buck stops."
The Tarboro town council meets again at 7 p.m. on August 11.
