Moore County government’s slush fund

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One of our faithful readers, who happens to be a well-placed county employee, alerted me to this gem.

The  Moore County budget has a “grant fund,” which is there for the sole purpose of responding to monetary requests from politicos around the county.  County manager Cary McSwain controls disbursements from this fund.  For the longest time, McSwain was only required to report individual disbursements of $50,000 or more.  He was NOT required to ID the recipients of the money.  There were also no real restrictions on what the money could be used for.

My source tells me that a faction of commissioners, led by Nick Picerno, has recently forced McSwain to start disclosing ALL disbursements from said “grant fund.”

The balance of the “grant fund” currently stands in the ballpark of $220,000.  (What I would give for a $220,000 personal slush fund, right now … )

THIS is a clear indication that county government has MORE THAN ENOUGH of our money in its coffers.