State government has unpaid bills of more than $37 million for completed projects rebuilding the homes of Eastern North Carolina hurricane survivors, newly released records show.
The leader of the state’s Office of Recovery and Resiliency addressed the unpaid bills on Monday when she testified before state lawmakers, explaining that without new funding from lawmakers, money would have to be transferred from other commitments to cover them.
“We simply were not watching carefully enough,” Laura Hogshead said when pressed about why the money was unavailable. “We were going fast and not watching carefully enough on the encumbrances,” or pledges to pay contractors.
North Carolina lawmakers convened to question the leadership of the state agency responsible for rebuilding efforts after hurricanes Florence and Matthew. They sought details on how much additional funding the agency needs to rebuild survivors’ homes and why it is facing a budget shortfall.
It remains unclear after the hearing whether the GOP-led legislature, which meets Tuesday, will provide any additional funding. Lawmakers are expected to allocate additional money for recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene, whose remnants struck Western North Carolina in September.