The Robinson family business: More (gov’t) money, more problems.

There’s a government program out there called Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP).  In North Carolina, it is funded by tax dollars transferred from the US Department of Agriculture to the state Department of Health & Human Services.  The state agency contract with private contractors called “sponsors”, who are tasked with transferring the tax dollars allocated to the state to various day cares and adult cares that feed low-income people.  The North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services is charged with overseeing and blessing the salaries and other spending of these “sponsors.”

Greensboro-area resident Yolanda Hill – the wife of lieutenant governor Mark Robinson – is confirmed to be an agent for and the CFO of one of these “sponsors”:  Greensboro-based Balanced Nutrition.  Records indicate a number of Hill and Robinson’s family relations  are  — and have been  – on the payroll of Balanced Nutrition.  (In his biography, Robinson himself has confirmed working at Balanced Nutrition.)

Our previous reporting has uncovered some issues with Balanced Nutrition including, but not limited to, false information submitted to the IRS and accounting that does not correlate with other years of operation.

There’s a whole new issue we’ve recently discovered with the Robinson business.  Documents provided by state government and other independent sources indicate Ms. Hill may have been paying herself and other documented employees higher salaries than what was pre-approved by the NC Department of Health & Human Services. 

How serious of a problem could that be? Well,  in 2019 the state Office of Administrative Hearings upheld significant financial sanctions against EC Canada & Associates – a Greensboro firm in the same line of work as Balanced Nutrition – for exceeding pre-approved salary and spending levels.

Let’s take a look, shall we?

Here is what the state approved for salaries at Balanced Nutrition for fiscal year 2019-2020 (October 2019 to September 2020).  Yolanda Hill and Cassaundra Spinks – Hill’s mother – are the only two Balanced Nutrition employees identified in the state-approved budget for that year.

Now, let’s compare THAT information with what Ms. Hill and Balanced Nutrition reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

Hill and Robinson’s son, Dayson, has been added to the payroll.  Hill’s reported salary is much larger than what had been approved by the NCDHHS.  Hill’s approved work hours have dramatically increased from what the state approved, while Spinks’s hours have dramatically decreased.

Let’s see what the state approved for Ms. Hill and Balanced Nutrition for the next fiscal year.

Kameron Brunson is believed to be Ms. Hill’s niece.  Now, let’s compare this information with what was reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

The niece disappears, but Ms. Hill’s mother and son suddenly appear on the payroll.  The Balanced Nutrition filing with the iRS did not supply salary information for 2021, but did give average hours worked.  According to the IRS filing, Hill significantly exceeded the number of approved work hours per week.  The salaries reportedly paid out to Ms. Spinks and Dayson Robinson significantly exceed what was approved for Ms. Brunson by the state.

Now, let’s examine what the state approved for Balanced Nutrition for the next fiscal year:

Our research indicates that Kandace Stephenson shares a home address with Robinson and Hill’s daughter and son-in-law. However, she does not show up on the filings that year to the IRS.

Hill and Balanced Nutrition do not supply any salary information to the IRS.  But they do offer up names and hours worked.  Hill reports much higher working hours per week than what was pre-authorized by NCDHHS.  Hill’s mother and son also make an appearance on the federal filings showing hours worked and salaries that were not pre-approved by NCDHHS.

Check out what NCDHHS approved for Balanced Nutrition for the recently completed fiscal year:

Compare that to what the IRS has been told for year 2022:

So, Ms. Hill reports significantly more work hours than NCDHHS approved.  And her mother gets put into the mix for 20 unapproved hours.  Of course, the IRS gets NO salary information.  

Records also indicate that Balanced Nutrition applied for and received federal paycheck protection (PPP) grants ($28,610 for 2020 and $28,312 for 2021) for the purported purpose of saving jobs during the pandemic.  

We’ve got a lot of questions here for a family seeking to have its head of household installed as the next governor of North Carolina.  One family from Greensboro, in the same line of work, has already been penalized financially by government officials for very similar behavior. Will we see an encore?