The North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) claims it doesn’t pay much attention to State Treasurer Dale Folwell. If that’s true then there sure are a lot of strange coincidences.
On July 15, Folwell called for NCDOT Secretary Eric Boyette to replace the NCDOT’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer.
The now former chief operating officer, Bobby Lewis, resigned as of Friday, July 31. According to the News & Observer, the NCDOT says that Lewis submitted his letter of resignation before Folwell called for him to be replaced.
In October 2019, Folwell called for Secretary of Transportation James Trogdon to be fired because of the financial mismanagement of the NCDOT. In February, Trogdon resigned, but it reportedly had nothing to do with the financial mismanagement or Folwell.
Folwell’s says his interest in NCDOT is financial and one of his main concerns is the effect the financial mismanagement could have on North Carolina’s bond rating, which could cost the state millions of dollars.
According to a press release from the Department of the State Treasurer, “Since 2019, NCDOT overspent by at least $2 billion and eviscerated the Highway Trust Fund by over $1 billion. This overspending resulted in NCDOT going to the North Carolina General Assembly and getting a bailout costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Folwell is not alone on the North Carolina Council of State in expressing his concern for the spending at NCDOT. State Auditor Beth Wood released a blistering report on the spending at NCDOT. The audit found that NCDOT had overspent its budget by about $742 million. The audit also found that the NCDOT had given employees about $39 million more in raises than was authorized by state law.
Folwell also notes that the NCDOT is required to receive approval before spending funds from the State Highway Trust Fund and had spent over $1 billion from that fund without the approval of the state treasurer.
Maybe the NCDOT doesn’t pay any attention to the state treasurer and maybe it should.
My guess is these people (Trogdon, Boyette, and Lewis) got their jobs by being appointed by governor Roy Cooper. It’s early in the election process, but Cooper needs to provide answers.
Speaking of the Gov, I just happened to see his 4PM broadcast on the Covid situation, and on the hurricane. After he spoke; he turned the forum over to Dr. Cohen, to give us some stats on the Pandemic in NC. Based on her presentation, her Doctorate was not Political Science. Nonetheless, she began her spiel by congratulating the state of Missouri and the expansion of Medicaid in their state, and chastising us in NC for not doing so. She did not mention the Republican Legislature, but she didn’t need. We mean old conservatives are at fault. So the whole thing ended up being political.
Both the mean old conservatives and the spendthrift liberals are a fault. We want more goodies from the government, constantly. When you get Manna from Heaven, you are hooked on it, and you have to have more.
Coop at his only best.
People are not digging deep enough on this issue. There are elected officials in general assembly that are very accountable for this mess. The blame game needs to be looked into. I know a few contractors personally that would be black balled from work if they shared the truth. Digg deeper and get the truth
Anyone that goes into government is going to be tempted by the cash cow that is the taxpayer. It is only human nature, and the very reason why there should be term limits for everyone.
We have term limits, the ballot box. The people elected these clowns, so we get what we ask for.
When Folwell is at it, he should also check the NCDOT Aviation funding as well. They have spent millions on contractors and consultants to travel and do nothing for the actual NCDOT employees. Also they support Chinese technology and invited Chinese people to NC in January even after knowing about COVID-19. Here is a glimpse of their Twitter feed – https://mobile.twitter.com/invest_nc/status/1214649396727554050 and https://www.ehang.com/news/605.html
Poor management in aviation and highways is the reason for overspending.
I think I need to go the work for the NCDOT
vote COOPER OUT IN NOVEMBER, THAT SHALL FIX nc, problums…… FOREST VOTE HIM IN!!