Elm City's Financial Scandal: A Roadmap to Reform

0:00It's March 28th. This is Durham News Today, powered by AI. I'm Corey with the story. A State Auditor's report just dropped on Elm City, this tiny North Carolina town with about 1,200 folks exposing years of financial slip-ups. From 2022 to 2025, officials broke rules left and right, like paying a former mayor to shampoo town hall carpets and snagging a truck off Facebook Marketplace without board. Okay, the 47-page audit highlights sloppy records, unapproved work by insiders, and reimbursements with zero backup. They shilled out $2,420 to ex-officials for jobs that skipped proper checks, plus $5,700. $25 in car charges without receipts, like gas, tires, and bulk buys, where no one even knows who's spented. Auditor Dave Bollic stressed these policies, fight fraud and waste, and Elm City's crew owned up to every finding. Car mayor Gil Wheeler says the old guard got voted out, and they're locking things down now,

1:03so this mess can't repeat. Details get wilder, that ex-mayor grabbed $2,500 back for the truck, because she knew they needed it, and $75. Bucks for a midnight water turn-on. They even had five finance officers flip through in four years with barely any higher paperwork. Elm cities on the state treasurer's watch list for fiscal help, but not full takeover. Wheeler calls the report a road map forward, and with new steps in place, they're aiming to clean up these tax dollar headaches for good.