A lack of oversight and due diligence has led to serious financial distress, including the mismanagement of millions of dollars, for the City of Rocky Mount, according to a 257-page performance audit released on Monday by State Auditor Dave Boliek’s office.
“Turns out, the residents of Rocky Mount were right to worry about their city and the financial condition of the City of Rocky Mount,” he said at a press conference Monday morning.
He said his office has heard overwhelming public concern and interest in this investigation.
And it all could have been possibly avoided if Rocky Mount’s city council vetted its pick for city manager in 2023, according to the state auditor.
The city hired an executive firm for $38,000 to recruit the former city manager without conducting any reference checks.
“What we found was red flag after red flag including the fact that he had previously been the town manager of Dumfries, Virginia,” Boliek said. “And during his time there we found recurring issues of poor management and poor decision making, including a pattern of unqualified, IRS questionable salary increases without council approval, inadequate segregation of duties, and structurally unsound budgeting. Those deficiencies in that community ultimately resulted in a $1 million overspend by the city manager, yet the Rocky Mount City Council voted unanimously to hire him.”
The former city manager was left unchecked from August 2023 to August 2025. During that time, the city’s cash and investment balances declined by approximately $80 million, falling from about $100 million to $21.8 million. A 78% drop in two years.
During the same time, personnel-related expenditures increased 27%, reaching $62.4 million. Citywide salary adjustments added $3.2 million in recurring annual payroll costs, and over $621,000 in holiday bonuses were paid despite declining cash balances. Capital spending also increased 153% from fiscal year 2023 to fiscal year 2024, totaling $67.4 million, including $17.2 million spent on land for a proposed casino and entertainment complex that never materialized; $11.2 million spent redeveloping Fire Station #2, nearly triple the original estimate of $6.8 million, and establishing a vehicle lease agreement of $6.6 million for additional equipment purchases including fire trucks and heavy machinery.
Auditors also found purchases that were made without financial feasibility analysis and attempts by the former city manager to bypass city council approval for financing equipment purchases, while the city experienced a 27% increase in employee compensation and 153% increase in capital purchases.
The state auditor said that this increased spending coincided with a 2% decrease in city revenues, and as a result of all the overspending, residents are the ones paying the price.
Ramifications include paused projects, the elimination of 86 full-time positions (10% of the staff), a decrease in the budget for part-time staffing, and increased property taxes and utility rates for residents, resulting in an average increase of $20 per month for natural gas and $8 per month for electricity.
Despite the dire financial situation left behind by the former city manager, he received almost $170,000 in a separation payment.
The State Auditor’s Office also released an investigative special report finding that the same city manager entered into a nearly $800,000 consulting contract without city council approval. About $385,610 was paid on the contract, but it was ultimately terminated.
Recommendations for the city include:
- Mandating a comprehensive financial impact analysis.
- Ensuring qualified financial leadership.
- Enforced timely account reconciliation.
- Governance oversight needs to be increased.
Boliek said whether it’s a member of a city council, a school board member, or a county commissioner, they have been elected by the people to make sure that things run right and ask questions if they need to.
“Because when you don’t ask questions, and you don’t dig into the details, this is what happens,” he said. “You take a fantastic community in eastern North Carolina, which is the City of Rocky Mount, and you run it up on the beach, and it becomes a financial mess. And now the citizens are going to have to band together to dig the City of Rocky Mount ultimately out of this hole. So government leaders at all levels should have courage and backbone to ask tough questions and get in the weeds to make sure that the professionals that are hired to run the city, county, or state agency are doing it the way the people expect. Because ultimately, I say it all the time, government doesn’t run on government money. Government runs on the people’s money, and it’s the people’s money that government spends at all levels.”
Boliek said his team will follow up with the city on the audit and is also analyzing purchase card transactions, which will be reported as well. In addition, his information systems team is analyzing the utility billing system following billing issues at the end of last year and will issue a report.
In addition to questions about the audit, Boliek was asked about former State Board of Elections member Robert Rucho, who resigned last week, as it was discovered that Rucho made campaign contributions in 2026. State law prohibits members of the State Board of Elections from making political donations while serving on the board.
A reporter asked him whether he thought the same law should apply to the state auditor or to whoever oversees elections. Boliek replied that within 21 hours of learning of it, decisive action was taken. Wake County Board of Elections member Angela Hawkins was named as Rucho’s replacement, and her seat was filled by Donna Williams, along with a new board chair.
“I would say this, no one ever asked Roy Cooper about his endorsement of candidates at all levels when he was governor and when the governor had appointment authority over the board of elections, so the answer, particularly with respect to counting votes and certifying elections, the auditor, myself, I have no role in that,” he said. “The roles and responsibilities of the state board are very clear, and our state board put that out in detail, more detail, I would say, than has ever been put out before. They’ve also taken strong steps on transparency broadcasting, for example, like the counting and acceptance or non-acceptance of provisional ballots, which is an additional transparency and accountability effort that our state board and Director Hayes at the state board have added to our elections.”
The state auditor was also asked if he thought that he should recuse himself from overseeing the election process because of his support for Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, in the tight race between him and Rockingham Sheriff Sam Page, who leads by 23 votes, with overseas and military ballots still being counted.
“Well there’s nothing to recuse myself,” Boliek said. “The process is clear, and in fact, the process did not involve the governor previously making any decisions, and it does not involve the auditor making any decisions. Those decisions are made by the appointed board, so there’s nothing to recuse myself from.”