Mayor, aldermen back in charge in Spring Lake but investigation into budget continues
State Treasurer Dale Folwell said Tuesday that the elected leaders were back in charge in Spring Lake after a brief government shutdown, but the investigation into the town's finances continues.
Posted — UpdatedSpring Lake has an estimated budget deficit of $1.2 million, but the town's proposed budget funds only $285,000 of that shortfall, state officials said.
Folwell said local government offices were shut down "for a number of days" so that the commission could collect and secure documents.
"Spring Lake has now been reopened for business, but the the investigation – the breadth and the depth of this investigation – continues," he said.
"It's never our desire to take over the finances of any town," he said. That job is to "figure out what's right and get it right and keep it right, on behalf of the citizens and the taxpayers."
“There’s no logistical reason this town should be in the shape that it’s in,” LGC Secretary Sharon Edmundson said in a statement, noting that Spring Lake has the highest municipal tax rate in Cumberland County, at 70 cents per $100 valuation.
“This town cannot afford to continue spending the way they have been spending," Edmundson said.
State Auditor Beth Wood, an LGC member, said leadership is lacking from the aldermen. She urged the commission to assume statutory control of the town’s finances.
“We are in there investigating and looking for missing money,” Wood said. “There’s a lot of things going on."
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