RR-2026-Zebulon
Town of Zebulon – Rapid Response Special Report
- The Town could not provide an executed contract supporting the Town’s payments to the former interim Town Manager at a rate of $250 per hour for consulting services in January 2025.
- The Town did not maintain adequate documentation to support its payments to consultants for budget preparation activities for FY 2026.
- The Town did not promptly investigate checks which were outstanding for more than one year in a timely manner or report them as required by the North Carolina Unclaimed Property Act.
- The Town processed duplicate and invalid payments due to insufficient invoice entry controls and the absence of an effective accounts payable reconciliation process.
- The Town’s internal controls did not detect that a Town finance staff member’s personal bank account was linked to the Town’s credit card account, resulting in the inadvertent use of personal funds to pay a Town credit card balance and an urgent reimbursement from the Town of $16,668.87.
- The Town lacked effective internal controls and governance related to oversight and documentation for executive-level compensation and reimbursement. OSA identified weakness in pre-payment review and inadequate segregation of duties.
- The Town’s General Fund unrestricted fund balance did not meet the minimum level required by the Fund Balance Policy described in the Town’s FY 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR).
- The Town’s budget-to-actual variances were significant and recurring for FY 2022 through FY 2025, reducing budget reliability in the General Fund.
First Published