State treasurer tells Gov. Cooper to clean up HIS mess at NCDOT
Governor Roy Cooper and his cronies have established a pattern of mocking Dale Folwell, but then doing what he tells them to do. It appears the treasurer has one more important task for Governor Doofus and his pals:
In the interest of protecting the state bond ratings, State Treasurer Dale R. Folwell, CPA, today called for N.C. Department of Transportation Secretary J. Eric Boyette to replace the department’s chief operating and financial officers. Treasurer Folwell previously called for Gov. Roy Cooper to replace former NCDOT Secretary James Trogdon and to transfer financial management of NCDOT to the Office of State Budget and Management because of the gross financial mismanagement of NCDOT.
Since 2019, NCDOT overspent by at least $2 billion and eviscerated the Highway Trust Fund by over $1 billion. This overspending resulted in NCDOT going to the North Carolina General Assembly and getting a bailout costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars.
Also, in 2019, NCDOT gave 7,379 employees raises totaling approximately $58.5 million.
At the request of state legislators, the Retirement Systems Division (RSD) completed an actuarial analysis of the impact to North Carolina’s retirement system on the raises given to NCDOT employees.
The pension benefit provided by the Teachers’ and State Employees’ Retirement System (TSERS) is a percentage of the employee’s final average compensation. Therefore, significant increases in compensation (raises), beyond those that the actuary expects based on past experience, will cause unforeseen losses the next time the actuary measures the funding status of TSERS. These losses, in turn, translate to increased costs for all state agencies, school systems, university institutions and community colleges who participate in TSERS.
The RSD actuaries found that the average pay increases for NCDOT employees over two years were expected to be 8.20% but turned out to be more than three times that increase, or 26.63%. The excess of actual pay increases over the expectation (26.63% minus 8.20%, or 18.43%) was more than 11 times the average across all school systems, state agencies, university institutions and community colleges.
The NCDOT salary increases will result in a $176 million increase in the unfunded liability of TSERS. Additionally, it will increase the contributions required of all school systems, state agencies, university institutions and community colleges participating in TSERS by more than $7 million in the fiscal year ending 2021, by more than $23 million for each of the fiscal years ending 2022 through 2032, and by more than $15 million for the fiscal year ending 2033.
“The continued mismanagement of this agency is a potential threat to North Carolina’s coveted triple ‘AAA’ bond rating,” said Treasurer Folwell. “For over two years the DOT has been writing checks it couldn’t cash, harming taxpayers, road users and vendors. Getting it right and keeping it right are requiremnts for issuing more debt on behalf of the DOT. The treasurer’s office stands ready and I hope that Secretary Boyette will take this agency in a new and fiscally responsible direction. Citizens deserve a stable and solvent DOT.”
Further, State Auditor Beth A. Wood, CPA, in a recently conducted Performance Audit found that the NCDOT pay raises:
- Failed to comply with state law;
- gave its (NCDOT) employees an unfair advantage; and
- overspent salary adjustments by $39 million.[…]
HOW MANY bones do you have to throw Forrest? Can he catch ONE??? I’ve seen NO ads for Forrest. Not saying there are none. I say the same for Cooper. But why isn’t Forrest FLOODING the tv with ads with the above headlines, catch phrases, the allegations at DHS, Unemployment Commission, DOT?
What IF the COS didn’t have Wood and Folwell? Coop’s admin have run roughshod the entire 4Y and only these 2 have provided any oversight of the corruption.
The school debacle is yet another disaster playing out. Biz remain closed another 3 wks and Coop uses these biz must close for schools to reopen….YET HOW MANY ARE REOPENING. Charlotte/Meck online, Durham online, how many others?
You know, if Doofus were a Republican this scandal (and all the others) with the DOT would be generating more headlines than the Wuhan flu. It is a travesty to NC that the democrat controlled media has chosen to ignore all these issues showing how incompetent our governor is.
The Gov and Cohen hide behind the walls with the pressers, aka Biden-style. Take ONLY Q’s their handlers choose, which are the same wk after wk after wk. NO tough Q’s after the Asheville newspaper lady commented, Asheville citz were calling the newspaper and literally crying b/c after wks and wks, they could not file unemployment claims, system broke, phones not answered, no income for wks……After that, the same softball reporters were selected.
Folwell and Wood have called out Cooper and Wood is a Dem. IF NOT for them, what would be occurring or what has occurred uncovered? WHERE did the NC GOP go to die? Anyone seen or heard from anyone?
Time to bring back the ADULTS to the governance of NC. Thank you NC State Treasurer DALE FOLWELL for your part in trying to protect the people of NC against the fiscal recklessness of the current administration. We need DAN FOREST and his team at the helm of state to fully recover what the Chinese Communist Party virus decimated.