And you thought your utility bills were piling up.
Gas may be $4 a gallon, but Pamlico County is facing an ?energy crisis? of its own. The county was delinquent on at least 25 utility bills since the first of the year, generating hundreds in late fees in a failure-to-pay story that county leaders say is the result of an understaffed finance department.
You can take a look at the late notices here.
In response to some low-level media buzz over the situation, the county decided to hire an independent financial firm from New Bern to help organize its finances. The county has also started advertising in regional newspapers for new staffers for the finance department.
I spoke with several county leaders about the situation, including county commissioners and the county manager. They all said they had no knowledge of the late bills before the story became public. County Manager Tim Buck released a letter to the media shortly after the story broke trying to explain the situation.
?This has received a lot of attention, but it?s something that most agencies will see. Maybe not the late payments, but there will be ebbs and flows in there,? Buck told me.
County Commissioner Paul Delamar said it was an ?unacceptable? situation. ?Somebody else might have known [about the late fees], but I sure didn?t,? he said. ?That was an issue for me ? that this was an ongoing problem and I, along with apparently the other members of the board, were not told about it.?
Whatever the reasons for the late payments, it shows a fundamental breakdown in the county government?s communication system that no one in leadership knew about this until the story was posted on a blog. It?s a good thing there are some watchdogs out there keeping an eye on this sort of thing.
