Mount Olive airport operator extended fuel credit to “white card” holders

Despite a records request submitted by New Old North, Mount Olive officials have been unable to produce invoices and proof of payment for tens of thousands of dollars in fuel charge credits extended by the operator of the Mount Olive Municipal Airport since February 10, the date the town and operator again clarified a contract both parties, according to the North Carolina Office of the State Auditor, have been repeatedly violating — potentially for as far back as 2017.

But the town’s inability to produce the documentation likely would not surprise State Auditor Dave Boliek or the League of Municipalities, as both have officially noted shoddy accounting and recordkeeping practices inside Town Hall.

In fact, the League’s deputy director for municipal accounting services is so concerned, she sent Mayor Jerome Newton and Interim Town Manager Glenn Holland a letter Aug. 18 notifying them that the NCLM was terminating “software conversion and catch-up accounting services.”

“We cannot convert towns that are not current with their accounting or that do not have permanent staff in positions that will receive training,” the letter, which was obtained by New Old North Aug. 19, states. “Your records are not current.”

Boliek had similar concerns about the state of the town’s financial house — specifically, inside the Water Department and at the airport.

So, in an attempt to begin to unwrap his investigators’ claims about practices at the airport that left the town “at risk of fraud/and or embezzlement,” New Old North requested all fuel transactions since the last time the contract was clarified.

Here is what we learned:

The NCOSA claimed that Mount Olive officials bore “the financial burden of providing fuel” at the airport, “even though it is the Airport Operator who is contractually obligated to purchase and sell the fuel.”

And investigators also alleged that the operator “extends credit” on the town’s behalf for customers who do not have a credit card on hand.

Based on the records sent to New Old North by Town Clerk Sherry Davis in response to a Freedom of Information Act records request — and information contained inside the NCOSA’s investigative report — both claims are, indeed, true.

As far as credits for fuel being offered, running lists are kept for both aviation gasoline and jet fuel transactions that were not paid for on site. Instead, the airport operator would send the list to Town Hall “to be invoiced.”

For aviation gasoline, all one needed to do to obtain the fuel without immediate payment was present a “white card,” which Davis defined as a “plastic card which resembles a credit card” that “turns on the machine so fuel can be pumped.”

But while it is a “physical card,” it is not, Davis said, tied to any town bank accounts — nor is it a “credit card” that accrues interest.

“The vendor is invoiced and pays it from their account,” Davis said. 

(Note: The complete list of aviation gasoline and jet fuel credits sent to the town to be invoiced is included at the bottom of this story.)

Whether those invoices were ever created — or the nearly $60,000 sent to the town to be invoiced since February 10 has been paid — remains unclear, as the town has yet to fulfill that part of the records request.

But while the NCOSA report noted that the invoices “are not entered into the Town’s accounting system and therefore are not properly accounted for” — putting the town at risk of “losing money due to late or uncollectable payments” — investigators noted that it has never been the contractual obligation of the town to collect the bills.

It was the airport operator’s responsibility to buy the fuel and sell it.

In other words, the only role the town was supposed to have was collecting 70 percent of the profit from fuel sold at the airport.

“As per the Contract, it is the responsibility of the Airport Operator to purchase and sell fuel,” the report states. “The Airport Operator should purchase and sell the fuel and then remit 70% of the fuel profit to the Town.”

That is not all.

Despite Davis’ claim that the white card is not tied to any town bank accounts, the NCOSA found that a town account was, indeed, debited somehow for fuel purchases taxpayers should not have been responsible for.

“According to the Airport Operator, he orders the fuel and the Town’s Airport fuel bank account is debited for the purchase (OSA confirmed that fuel purchases were debited from a Town bank account). As per the Contract, however, it is the responsibility of the Airport Operator — not the Town — to purchase the fuel,” the report states. “Moreover, it was the Airport Operator — not representatives from the Town — who signed the contract with the fuel provider. It is unclear why and how a Town bank account is being debited for fuel purchases related to a contract that the Town is not party to.”

Mount Olive has been put on notice for years about its accounting practices.

In fact, the town’s 2022, 2023, and 2024 annual audits all contain red flags.

In 2022, S. Preston Douglas & Associates reported a number of “material weaknesses,” that included several instances of “excess of expenditures over appropriations,” and failures in “financial reporting” and record keeping.”

In 2023, the same firm found that the town expended $261,342 more than it had appropriated in the Public Works and Buildings line item — and was more than $68,000 over budget at the airport.

The firm also reported that “for all twelve months of the fiscal year, the Town’s main operating bank account was not reconciled in a timely manner.”

More of the same was reported in the 2024 audit, as the town spent $840,053 more than it had appropriated in the Water and Sewer Fund.

Officials were also put on notice for a weakness in “Financial Reporting and Recordkeeping Over Federal Awards.”

Commissioner Delreese Simmons, who admitted to New Old North that he was the person who blew the whistle on what the NCOSA ultimately found at the airport, said he wants to see a “full forensic audit” of the town.

And Rep. John Bell has said repeatedly that he would support town officials who called for that to happen.

Whether the mayor — or the majority of the board — will request that Boliek’s office do just that remains to be seen.

The following is the complete list of “white card” purchases labeled “to be billed”
by Town Hall from February 14 to present:

2/14: UMO Aviation, $80.82

2/14: UMO Aviation, $46.56

2/14: UMO Aviation, $54.43

2/17: UMO Aviation, $86.02

2/17: UMO Aviation, $47.92

2/18: UMO Aviation, $81.11

2/18: UMO Aviation, $42.62

2/18: UMO Aviation, $78.49

2/22: UMO Aviation, $70.08

2/23: UMO Aviation, $104.95

2/24: UMO Aviation, $68.88

2/24: UMO Aviation, $31.89

2/24: UMO Aviation, $108.95

2/24: UMO Aviation, $29.87

2/24: UMO Aviation, $69.12

2/25: UMO Aviation, $27.18

2/25: UMO Aviation, $73.88

2/26: UMO Aviation, $27.42

2/26: UMO Aviation, $60.85

2/26: UMO Aviation, $62.87

2/26: UMO Aviation, $64.89

2/27: UMO Aviation, $99.09

2/27: UMO Aviation, $39.11

2/27: UMO Aviation, $74.31

2/27: UMO Aviation, $66.43

2/28: UMO Aviation, $50.31

2/28: UMO Aviation, $37.37

3/2: UMO Aviation, $234.54

3/3: UMO Aviation, $68.30

3/3: UMO Aviation, $79.03

3/3: Jim Harrell, $31.17

3/3: UMO Aviation, $88.22

3/7: UMO Aviation, $99.33

3/7: UMO Aviation, $47.38

3/7: UMO Aviation, $33.48

3/7: UMO Aviation, $29

3/9: UMO Aviation, $72.87

3/9: UMO Aviation, $28.04

3/10: UMO Aviation, $179.94

3/10: UMO Aviation, $91.05

3/11: UMO Aviation, $98.80

3/12: UMO Aviation, $53.20

3/12: UMO Aviation, $129.87

3/18: UMO Aviation, $159.70

4/13: UMO Aviation, $43.53

4/14: UMO Aviation, $38.43

4/14: UMO Aviation, $24.24

4/14: UMO Aviation, $79.22

4/14: Jim Harrell, $147.47

4/15, UMO Aviation, $53.05

4/17: UMO Aviation, $79.83

4/21: UMO Aviation, $78.10

4/21: UMO Aviation, $52.17

4/21: UMO Aviation, $86.50

4/21: UMO Aviation, $106.51

4/22: UMO Aviation, $78.20

4/23: UMO Aviation, $44.06

4/24: UMO Aviation, $48.46

4/25: UMO Aviation, $79.83

4/27: UMO Aviation, $71.28

4/27: UMO Aviation, $68.86

4/27: UMO Aviation, $72.52

4/28: UMO Aviation, $39.08

4/28: UMO Aviation, $62.94

4/28: UMO Aviation, $23.27

4/28: Jim Harrell, $85.96

4/29: Jim Harrell, $74.64

4/29: UMO Aviation, $40.80

4/29: UMO Aviation, $41.25

4/29: UMO Aviation, $45.65

4/29: UMO Aviation, $107.59

4/30: UMO Aviation, $69.21

5/1: UMO Aviation, $69.90

5/1: UMO Aviation, $90.80

5/2: UMO Aviation, 108.93

5/6: UMO Aviation, $104.63

5/6: UMO Aviation, $32.51

5/7: UMO Aviation, $71.73

5/7: UMO Aviation, $64.22

5/7: UMO Aviation, $75.29

5/8: UMO Aviation, $49.45

5/8: Jim Harrell, $115.89

5/8: Jim Harrell, $67.58

5/13: UMO Aviation, $65.75

5/15: Jim Harrell, $15.71

5/15: UMO Aviation, $102.90

5/15: UMO Aviation, $55.58

5/15: UMO Aviation, $121.92

5/16: UMO Aviation, $67.68

5/18: UMO Aviation, $88.08

5/19: UMO Aviation, $23.46

5/19: UMO Aviation, $47.18

5/19: UMO Aviation, $41.89

5/19: UMO Aviation, $47.92

5/20: UMO Aviation, $103.89

5/21: UMO Aviation, $37.20

5/22: UMO Aviation, $26.48

5/29: Jim Harrell, $48.56

5/29: Jim Harrell, $44.56

6/2: UMO Aviation, $65.46

6/2: UMO Aviation, $64.17

6/2: UMO Aviation, $67.09

6/3: UMO Aviation, $51.43

6/3: UMO Aviation, $36.36

6/4: UMO Aviation, $92.06

6/4: UMO Aviation, $64.73

6/6: UMO Aviation, $61.58

6/6: UMO Aviation, $80.09

6/12: UMO Aviation, $59.62

6/12: UMO Aviation, $52.80

6/12: UMO Aviation, $55.28

6/13: UMO Aviation, $51.90

6/14: UMO Aviation, $71.26

6/16: UMO Aviation, $12.50

6/17: UMO Aviation, $38.40

6/18: UMO Aviation, $74.22

6/18: UMO Aviation, $48.51

6/18: UMO Aviation, $53.47

6/23: UMO Aviation, $135.56

6/23: UMO Aviation, $40.40

6/23: UMO Aviation, $87.58

6/24: UMO Aviation, $39.83

6/24: UMO Aviation, $65.59

6/24: UMO Aviation, $38.02

6/26: UMO Aviation, $55.24

6/26: UMO Aviation, $79.66

6/26: UMO Aviation, $33.10

6/27: UMO Aviation, $119.01

6/29: UMO Aviation, $85.24

6/30: UMO Aviation, $55.48

6/30: UMO Aviation, $56.67

7/3: UMO Aviation, $104.37

7/3: UMO Aviation, $91.39

7/3: UMO Aviation, $69.40

TOTAL: $9,099.15

The following is the complete list of jet fuel sales listed as “Emailed to Town for Invoicing”
from February 14, 2025 to present:

2/14: Metro Aviation, $308.06

2/17: Frank Spencer, $329.16

2/17: Metro Aviation, $164.58

2/17: Metro Aviation, $299.62

2/18: Metro Aviation, $569.70

2/18: Metro Aviation, $443.10

2/21: Metro Aviation, $118.16

2/21: Metro Aviation, $341.82

2/22: Metro Aviation, $211

2/22: Starflite Aviation, $1,987.62

2/25: Metro Aviation, $506.40

2/26: Metro Aviation, $506.40

2/27: UHF Development Group, $1,832.32

2/28: Metro Aviation, $422

3/1: Metro Aviation, $464.20

3/3: Metro Aviation, $810.24

3/4: Metro Aviation, $468.42

3/6: Metro Aviation, $485.30

3/8: Metro Aviation, $367.14

3/12: Metro Aviation, $105.50

3/15: Metro Aviation, $126.60

3/17: Metro Aviation, $493.74

3/19: Metro Aviation, $253.20

3/20: Metro Aviation, $514.84

3/31: EAC-KA350 LLC, $38.82

4/1: Metro Aviation, $81.20

4/2: Metro Aviation, $154.28

4/2: Metro Aviation, $174.58

4/4: DHB Aviation, $3,158.68

4/4: Metro Aviation, $267.96

4/5: Metro Aviation, $187.76

4/5: Metro Aviation, $170.52

4/6: Metro Aviation, $304.50

4/6: Metro Aviation, $296.38

4/7: Metro Aviation, $207.06

4/7: Metro Aviation, $377.58

4/8: Metro Aviation, $150.22

4/8: Metro Aviation, $223.30

4/8: Flying Pigs, $1,347.92

4/10: Metro Aviation, $284.20

4/15: Metro Aviation, $144.55

4/16: Metro Aviation, $140.42

4/18: UHF Development, $309.75

4/18: Metro Aviation, $214.76

4/19: Metro Aviation, $140.42

4/19: Metro Aviation, $185.85

4/20: Metro Aviation, $177.59

4/21: Metro Aviation, $342.79

4/22: Metro Aviation, $156.94

4/22: Metro Aviation, $198.24

4/24: Metro Aviation, $181.72

4/24: KAM AIR LLC, $1,251.39

4/24: Metro Aviation, $206.50

4/25: Metro Aviation, $119.77

4/25: Metro Aviation, $148.68

4/26: Metro Aviation, $495.60

4/26: Metro Aviation, $289.10

4/27: Metro Aviation, $144.55

4/28: Metro Aviation, $520.38

4/29: Metro Aviation, $140.42

4/29: Starflite Aviation, $869.78

4/29: Starflite Aviation, $486.93

4/29: Starflite Aviation, $545.99

4/29: Starflite Aviation, $335.77

4/29: Metro Aviation, $165.20

4/30: Metro Aviation, $371.70

5/1: Metro Aviation, $189.98

5/1: Metro Aviation, $189.98

5/2: Metro Aviation, $173.46

5/2: Metro Aviation, $148.68

5/3: Metro Aviation, $144.55

5/3: Metro Aviation, $144.55

5/4: Metro Aviation, $454.30

5/5: Metro Aviation, $545.16

5/6: Flying Pigs, $790.02

5/6: Metro Aviation, $167.58

5/7: Metro Aviation, $119.70

5/8: Metro Aviation, $107.73

5/8: Metro Aviation, $71.82

5/8: Metro Aviation, $446.88

5/10: Metro Aviation, $119.70

5/11: Metro Aviation, $51.87

5/14: Metro Aviation, $335.16

5/15: Metro Aviation, $119.70

5/15: Metro Aviation, $414.96

5/15: Metro Aviation, $159.60

5/16: Metro Aviation, $195.51

5/17: Metro Aviation, $191.52

5/18: Metro Aviation, $207.48

5/19: Metro Aviation, $239.40

5/21: Metro Aviation, $497.84

5/22: Metro Aviation, $235.20

5/23: Metro Aviation, $184.24

5/27: Metro Aviation, $211.68

5/28: Metro Aviation, $211.68

5/28: Metro Aviation, $172.48

5/31: Metro Aviation, $160.72

5/31: Metro Aviation, $478.24

6/2: Metro Aviation, $176.40

6/2: Metro Aviation, $529.20

6/2: Metro Aviation, $548.80

6/5: Metro Aviation, $148.96

6/6: Metro Aviation, $466.48

6/6: Metro Aviation, $282.24

6/7: Metro Aviation, $47.04

6/8: Metro Aviation, $568.40

6/8: Metro Aviation, $141.12

6/9: Metro Aviation, $294

6/9: Metro Aviation, $446.88

6/11: Metro Aviation, $215.60

6/11: Metro Aviation, $74.48

6/11: Metro Aviation, $172.48

6/12: Metro Aviation, $164.64

6/12: Metro Aviation, $333.20

6/13: Metro Aviation, $62.72

6/13: Metro Aviation, $207.76

6/15: Metro Aviation, $98

6/18: Metro Aviation, $123.52

6/19: Metro Aviation, $50.18

6/19: Metro Aviation, $131.24

6/19: Metro Aviation, $173.70

6/20: Metro Aviation, $123.52

6/20: Fair Air Aviation, $702.52

6/21: Metro Aviation, $177.56

6/22: Metro Aviation, $162.12

6/23: Metro Aviation, $162.12

6/25: Metro Aviation, $100.36

6/26: Metro Aviation, $609.88

6/27: Metro Aviation, $447.76

6/27: Blountville Aviation, $772

6/27: Metro Aviation, $285.64

6/28: Metro Aviation, $231.60

6/28: Metro Aviation, $115.80

6/28: Metro Aviation, $162.12

6/29: Metro Aviation, $169.84

6/30: Metro Aviation, $455.48

7/1: Metro Aviation, $290.78

7/3: Metro Aviation, $499.10

7/4: Metro Aviation, $434

7/4: Metro Aviation, $590.24

7/5: Metro Aviation, $147.56

7/7: Metro Aviation, $173.60

TOTAL: $49,990.80