The SCC Files: Tax lien explained (kinda, but NOT REALLY)

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The financial management side of things at Sandhills Community College has provided us with quite a bit of fodder in recent months.  We told you about the disastrous audit produced by the state auditor which gave quite a dressing-down to the folks who handle all the taxpayer money that comes onto the Airport Road campus. College insiders did cartwheels to blame all of the issues found by the auditor on now-retired college president John Dempsey.  

We were also told: “Hey, at least there was no money missing.”  (For the record, the state auditor actually said the books were in such a mess that you really couldn’t tell what kind of shape the college was in.)

And then there was the issue of a tax lien against the college.   The IRS and the state department of revenue don’t tend to hand those lien things out willy-nilly.  Usually, these kinds of disputes involve (1) a significantly-large amount of money and / or (2) a perceived lack of cooperation in resolving things.

We broke the story in June.  Lo and behold, look at what happened in a July 15 college board of trustees finance committee meeting:

“The W2 transmission issue from 2022”?  What was THAT?  And WHY are we just now hearing about it in 2025?

(Actually, court documents show the lien was cancelled on June 13, 2025 — about two weeks before our story came out.)

Why did it take so long — THREE YEARS – to resolve a “W2 transmission issue”? And when will we get the full story? (About the time Larry and Sandy learn that recordings of public meetings actually are public record?)

Where have the *taxpayer watchdogs* on the college’s board of trustees been?

Meanwhile, the two guys in charge when this went down have been auspiciously rewarded.  College president Sandy Stewart – hired in July 2023 — has received a three year contract extension.  Board of Trustees chairman Larry Caddell has just been reappointed to a new four year term by state Rep. Neal Jackson.

Make a mess, earn a promotion or other reward. That’s politics for you.