Mark & Yolanda hit with demand letter seeking repayment of $100,000+ in tax dollars

Posted on by

The Mark Robinson era in North Carolina politics is over, but he and his family continue to leave their mark.

The  gubernatorial campaign is over.  The appeals process appears to have been exhausted.

The North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services (NC DHHS) has issued a letter demanding payment from Balanced Nutrition (BN) for $101,142.05 in tax dollars they reportedly and improperly obtained.

If you haven’t been following the Balanced Nutrition saga closely, here is a helpful archive.   BN was a contractor for NC DHHS on a federally-funded program to reimburse daycare centers for lunches they provided to qualifying attendees. The firm was founded by Yolanda Hill, wife to former Lt. Governor Mark Robinson, and employed Hill’s now-late mother, Hill & Robinson’s son and daughter, and the former lieutenant governor himself, among others. 

On April 3, NC DHHS issued a Notice of Proposed Termination and Disqualification to the responsible parties at Balanced Nutrition — which currently include Yolanda Hill and her and Robinson’s daughter Kimberly Cephas.   This notice appears to ban the named responsible parties from ever doing business with the federal program in question and from even working for another entity that does business with said federal program.

On March 26, a letter demanding full payment of Balanced Nutrition‘s assessed debt – within 30 days of the letter’s issuance – went out.  The letter appears to specify payment up front in the form of a check or money order. 

Once again, this is not a penalty dreamed up by Josh Stein.  This is based on an audit of a handful of Balanced Nutrition clients from the first quarter of 2024.  

(Our archive contains documents signed and prepared by Mark and Yolanda that appear to show mishandling of federal money over numerous years. Look for yourself.  Get a friend who has had a few accounting classes to look at it for your or with you. This could have — some may say should have — been a lot worse. The feds may still have something to say about this matter.  Unless Mark & Yolanda can come up with an honest explanation for this mess, they appear to be getting off pretty easily via this arrangement with NC DHHS.)