{"id":4794,"date":"2026-07-17T05:05:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T05:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4794"},"modified":"2026-07-17T05:05:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T05:05:17","slug":"what-cary-is-saying-about-the-state-auditors-report-on-town-spending","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4794","title":{"rendered":"What Cary is saying about the state auditor\u2019s report on town spending"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"summary\">AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsobserver.com\/news\/nation-world\/national\/article280707640.html\">Read our AI Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"summary\">\n                The town of Cary has been in the spotlight since late November, when Town Manager Sean Stegall was put on administrative leave without any explanation from the town. Stegall resigned Dec. 13, 2025, amid reports of questionable spending. Here is ongoing coverage from The News &amp; Observer.\n            <\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4792\">Taylor Frankie Paul&#8217;s Lawyers React to Family Services&#8217; Concerns About Her Parenting<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Cary officials are laying most of the blame at the feet of their former town manager after the release Thursday of an over-2,600-page <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsobserver.com\/news\/politics-government\/article316533124.html\" rel=\"Follow\" target=\"_blank\">report from the North Carolina State Auditor\u2019s Office that<\/a> dives into a plethora of the town\u2019s questionable expenditures.<\/p>\n<p>Town officials did not know the report was being released Thursday, according to Cary spokesperson Carolyn Roman.<\/p>\n<p>Former Town Manager Sean Stegall resigned as town manager in December, three weeks after he was placed on administrative leave, The News &amp; Observer previously reported.<\/p>\n<p>The town had previously agreed to pay Stegall a lump severance of almost $200,000, provided he return town property and give access to his town-related text messages, according to the report. Stegall refused and has not been given his severance.<\/p>\n<p>Council member Sarika Bansal, reached Thursday morning, said she did not know the report was coming out until The N&amp;O informed her.<\/p>\n<p>Bansal said the town has budgeted for two new internal auditor positions this year to address spending concerns, but she doesn\u2019t yet know if those positions have been filled or even advertised.<\/p>\n<p>A written response from the town of Cary, included in the auditor\u2019s report, blames Stegall for questionable purchase and decisions.<\/p>\n<p>Stegall introduced private-sector thought processes to the town, Cary\u2019s statement says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCary continued to thrive, and the former Town Manager made many positive contributions to the community,\u201d it says. \u201cYet over time, and especially toward the end of his tenure, he made questionable decisions\u201d including:<\/p>\n<p>But some of the spending happened in sight of the council.<\/p>\n<p>The report points to $1,600 spent on 10 Cary-branded Ray-Ban sunglasses that were given to the council.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t think they were $100 or whatever it was they cost, and I was told it was a part of marketing because we rebranded, and it had our new brand on it,\u201d Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said in a news conference Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>He and other town council members said that while purchases like that happened, it was hard to see the whole picture of mismanagement.<\/p>\n<p>He added that \u201cwe\u2019re going to fix all that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Weinbrecht said the bigger problem was the town\u2019s underinvestment in things like police and fire response services under Stegall.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4790\">NC State Auditor releases audit on Cary spending. Read the full report<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The town budgeted for 21 new police officers this year \u2014 the first time town officials say they\u2019ve added police in a decade.<\/p>\n<p>The town outlined in the report a number of measures it\u2019s taken, some at the recommendation of the report.<\/p>\n<p>Previously, more than 60% of town employees had access to town \u201cp-cards\u201d or procurement cards, which function like a town debit card and are often used by government employees to expedite purchasing.<\/p>\n<p>The town said it\u2019s reduced the number of p-cards held by staff by 25%.<\/p>\n<p>Interim Town Manager Russ Overton said the town will take steps to cut that number down further.<\/p>\n<p>Weinbrecht said that Overton and other senior staff were among the first to speak out against Stegall in a closed session with council last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur interim manager does not have a p-card,\u201d Weinbrecht said. \u201cOur town clerk does not have a p-card. So they\u2019re already by example reducing the number of p-cards.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The town has also updated many of its procedures on how to use and distribute the cards, according to its statement.<\/p>\n<p>The report makes other recommendations for spending procedures and calculating the town\u2019s financial reserves. The town said it\u2019s making progress on many of those, with timelines for implementation set for early to mid-2027.<\/p>\n<p>Bansal said in the news conference that it\u2019s going to take time to implement many recommendations for better financial oversight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not a quick fix, it\u2019s a police recommendation, there will be a public hearing and there is a whole process for the council before (it) gets adopted,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The town also budgeted for a new budget director position alongside the two new two internal auditors to address spending concerns.<\/p>\n<p>Cary commissioned its own report, conducted by outside law firm Womble Bond Dickinson.<\/p>\n<p>That report covers similar ground to the state\u2019s, but outlines more recommendations the town can take to address its spending practices.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4788\">Confederate flag drew attention to NC booth at national fair. Here&#8217;s what to know<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"summary gray\">This story was originally published <span class=\"inline-block\">July 16, 2026 at 12:55 PM<span>.<\/span><\/span><!-- --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cary officials reacted to a 2,600-page North Carolina State Auditor report detailing questionable expenditures under former manager Sean Stegall and steps to bolster oversight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-read-todays-edition"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What Cary is saying about the state auditor\u2019s report on town spending - Durham Moving Hub<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4794\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Cary is saying about the state auditor\u2019s report on town spending - Durham Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cary officials reacted to a 2,600-page North Carolina State Auditor report detailing questionable expenditures under former manager Sean Stegall and steps to bolster oversight.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4794\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Durham Moving Hub\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-17T05:05:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4794#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4794\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bf1f081e7f06a3ab66052e5f6015fd85\"},\"headline\":\"What Cary is saying about the state auditor\u2019s report on town spending\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-17T05:05:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4794\"},\"wordCount\":818,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4794#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/55f5b555465619a0eb27e0c09ab8e074.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Read today's Edition\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4794#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4794\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4794\",\"name\":\"What Cary is saying about the state auditor\u2019s report on town spending - Durham Moving Hub\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4794#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4794#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/55f5b555465619a0eb27e0c09ab8e074.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-17T05:05:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bf1f081e7f06a3ab66052e5f6015fd85\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4794#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4794\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/?p=4794#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/55f5b555465619a0eb27e0c09ab8e074.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/durhammovinghub.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/55f5b555465619a0eb27e0c09ab8e074.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht speaks during a news conference with the Cary Town Council in Cary, N.C., Thursday, July 16, 2026. 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The council held the news conference to talk about the state auditor\u2019s findings of an investigation into former Cary Town Manager Sean Stegall and Cary's spending practices."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?p=4794#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Cary is saying about the state auditor\u2019s report on town spending"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/","name":"Durham Moving Hub","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bf1f081e7f06a3ab66052e5f6015fd85","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/durhammovinghub.com"],"url":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/durhammovinghub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}