State warns Edgecombe County about late audits

The Political Agitator’s response: Edgecombe County Commissioners Meeting Deputy Treasurer Sharon Edmundson Reported County Stand To Lose $3.2 Million

TARBORO — Edgecombe County was called on the carpet Monday night by the State Treasurer’s Office.

Sharon Edmondson, secretary of the Local Government Commission and a deputy treasurer for the state and local government finance division of the treasurer’s office, put the county on notice that it is time to get its audit situation under control.

Edmondson, telling the Edgecombe County Board of Commissioners that she hoped they weren’t hearing the information she was sharing for the first time, advised that the county was two years behind on its state-required audits — and that the situation was getting worse.

“You are two years behind on your statutorily required audit,” she said. “On Dec. 4, 2020, the 2019 audit was over a year late. Since 2015, you’ve been late every year.”

Edmondson said she had talked with Edgecombe County Manager Eric Evans about the situation.

She told commissioners that the consequences of the county’s not being able to meet its state-mandated deadlines could be great — and gave an example.

“If your audit is not approved by Feb. 22, the county will lose funding and be required to pay $3.7 million back to the U.S. Department of Agriculture,” she told commissioners and about 15 other county employees and spectators. (Read more)