Goldsboro finance director defends costly 2019 audit mishap

Less than three weeks after they were informed that the city has had its bond rating withdrawn, more than $600,000 in grant funds frozen and is not currently eligible to borrow money, Goldsboro City Council members discussed what triggered those events Monday — a 2019 audit that still has not been submitted to the state.

The conversation unfolded after the board went into a lengthy closed session to discuss a “personnel matter,” and while it is unclear just what business that included, it happened a few hours after Community Relations Director Shycole Simpson-Carter submitted her resignation — and took aim at City Manager Tim Salmon.

In her resignation letter, Simpson-Carter accused Salmon of having a leading role in the financial woes associated with the city not submitting its 2019 audit in a timely fashion — and said he made “egregious errors” that led to the financial crisis and criticized what she called “detrimental” and “deceitful” behavior inside City Hall.

As far as the audit is concerned, Finance Director Catherine Gwynn said staffing changes and natural disasters — including Hurricane Matthew, which hit Goldsboro in 2016, and Hurricane Floyd, which hit the city in 2018 — contributed to the missed audit deadline last fall.

Gwynn said she “couldn’t find” records and that when former Finance Department staff, including her predecessor, Kaye Scott, left the city, it crippled the department.

“I think the transition was very big because you had two high-level individuals who had been here a very long time … and when that knowledge left … all of that is lost,” she said.

And the remaining staff, she added, was unable to assist when the audit firm called with questions.

“A lot of those answers, they did not know,” Gwynn said. “And we just could not find the records.”

Councilwoman Brandi Matthews said she was concerned that the audit has still not been completed.

“It’s alarming and it’s very concerning to me,” she said.

And Antonio Williams, who will soon leave his post on the council to be sworn in on the Wayne County Board of Commissioners said he was skeptical about the situation, particularly after discussing the matter with Michael Handley, the N.C. Housing Finance Agency’s manager of housing rehabilitation and compliance.

“He stated that the NCHFA bent over backwards, giving the city of Goldsboro extension after extension, warning after warning. … He stated it is uncommon for cities to not be compliant. He stated that one of the last things they do is suspend,” Williams said. “He suspects things are not perfect. He also stated there would be no funds dispersed to Goldsboro. It’s ridiculous at this point that we don’t have the fiscal year ’19 financials. If an audit is this late, there is reason for it. This conversation should be alarming to everyone.”

Here is the letter from the NCHFA: