The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency notified City Manager Tim Salmon in September that it was freezing funds that would typically find their way into Goldsboro coffers.
In a Sept. 17 letter obtained by the New Old North, Michael Handley, the manager of housing rehabilitation and compliance, told Salmon that funding was suspended “due to not submitting your audited financial statements for the 2019 fiscal year.”
“The City of Goldsboro will be suspended from receiving funds from the Agency until the Agency receives the required audited financial statement,” the letter reads. “Specifically, the Agency will not accept reservation requests or disburse funds under the City’s open 2017 Essential Single-Family Rehabilitation Loan Pool — Disaster Recovery project … or the 2019 Urgent Repair Program project.”
City officials have not publicly discussed the letter — nor have they addressed an Oct. 29 communication from the State Treasurer’s Office that informed members of the City Council that one of the nation’s leading bond credit rating agencies had withdrawn its rating on Goldsboro’s General Obligation Bonds and General Obligation Street Improvement Bonds.
Moody’s Investors Service Inc. made the move due to “insufficient information” — a deficiency characterized by treasurer’s office officials as a “serious matter” that is “a reflection on the quality of both governing board oversight and management practices of the city.”
Again, WOW!!! This is what happens when you hire a City Manager with no local government experience for some mysterious reason to manage a City of 36,000 residents and a $55+ million dollar budget. It is a LAW in the form of an ordinance within the City’s charter (Sec. 5.2. POWERS AND DUTIES OF MANAGER) that a City Manager must by law:
(e) He shall prepare and submit the annual budget and capital program to the city council.
VERY IMPORTANT (f) He shall annually submit to the city council and make available to the public a complete report on the finances and administrative activities of the city as of the end of the fiscal year.
(g) He shall make any other reports that the city council may require concerning the operations of the city departments, offices, and agencies subject to his direction and control.