North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell has called for the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to replace the chief operating officer and the chief financial officer.
In Oct. 2019, Folwell called for Gov. Roy Cooper to replace the secretary of NDDOT, and in February 2020, Cooper did.
Folwell is calling for Secretary of NCDOT Eric Boyette to replace two of his top officers for much the same reason – fiscal mismanagement.
Folwell is also calling for the financial management of NCDOT to be transferred to the Office of State Budget and Management.
A press release from the state treasurer’s office states, “Since 2019, NCDOT overspent by at least $2 billion and eviscerated the Highway Trust Fund by over $1 billion. This overspending resulted in the NCDOT going to the North Carolina General Assembly and getting a bailout costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Another issue is the raises that NCDOT gave to its employees over the past two years, which were expected to average 8.2 percent and instead averaged 26.6 percent, which was more than 11 times the average for other state employees.
Those salary increases will, according to Folwell, result in a $176 million unfunded liability for the Teachers and State Employees Retirement System (TSERS) because retirement benefits are based on a percentage of the employees final compensation. The contributions to TSERS by school systems, state agencies, universities and community colleges will have to be increased by more than $23 million each year from 2022 through 2032.
Folwell said, “The continued mismanagement of this agency is a potential threat to North Carolina’s coveted ‘AAA’ bond rating. For over two years the DOT has been writing checks it couldn’t cash, harming taxpayers, road users and vendors. Getting it right and keeping it right are requirements for issuing more debt on behalf of the DOT. The treasurer’s office stands ready and I hope that Secretary Boyette will take this agency in a new and fiscally responsible direction. Citizens deserve a stable and solvent DOT.”
Why doesn’t he call for an investigation? But would need someone else than the current attorney general who is hand-picked by Cooper.
As far back as I can remember the NCDOT has been a bureaucratic SLUSH FUND for those running it and the ones appointing them!
It is time to put their budgets in chains! Kicking this can down the road has been done too much already!
Maybe something needs to be put on the ballot to change this set-up?
And THIS is what happens to the taxpayer’s money, ALL of us. Everyone in NC pays some kind of tax to the state.
The govt always wants more, they never have enough. This is a visible example of where our money goes. To see if for yourself, look at the various road construction projects all over the County and the State. It takes For-ever to finish them. You can note a big project with hardly anyone around, or a project with lots of people standing around. Look at W. Market St @ Guilford College road, or Horsepen Creek Rd. Take your pick.
Defund the Government! Tax revolt!
Coop-less.
The State Auditor needs the power to take corrective action when audits show mismanagement and financial irregularities!
Where have the checks and balances in the NCDOT? This is insane! No corporation would get by with this and remain in business.
I’m a highway contractor for the Ncdot and obviously defunding the Ncdot would directly negatively affect my business but as a concerned citizen of N.C. with inside knowledge I strongly believe the last thing the Ncdot needs is more money. I can assure you all they would do with it is find new ways to waste it. It’s my opinion the Ncdot needs to be gutted in Raleigh and replaced with some retired experienced ceo and management from the private sector (Theirs good people out their who would be glad to help their state) to reorganize it then train new personnel on the correct way to run and manage a agency/Corp of that size. The way the dot is now the only thing they know how to do is ask and manipulate the system for more money. As a contractor if you mention to them of perhaps a better cheaper way to do something youre immediately looked at stupid and have made enemies. All they want to do is grow their kingdom bigger not better manage what they have