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GREENSBORO – During the August 21 Greensboro Town Council meeting, Town Manager Cindy Yost presented findings of thousands of dollars in town spending that had gone unchecked. Her review revealed undercharging for trash services at apartment complexes and paying for insurance premiums based on overvalued property, unused phone lines, and payroll issues, among other concerns.
One of the most pressing topics of the night was how to address roughly $18,000 in trash collection undercharges to four Greensboro apartment complexes. After hearing from residents and discussing the town’s role in the error, the Council voted to absorb the cost, up to $24,000.
Trash Billing Discrepancies
Public comment was moved to the start of the meeting, where Dylan Grimes, a resident of Ober Park Condominiums, spoke about the billing problem. “Condominiums are individually owned. We are residents. We are homeowners,” Grimes said. She said that residents had not been informed of the billing issues until now, and that covering the charges would force the condo association to raise dues significantly and dip into reserves that are legally required to remain at a certain level.
Yost explained during her Town Manager’s report that her review showed the apartment complexes had not been billed accurately for trash service. Instead, the costs were being automatically deducted from town accounts and assigned to Public Works.
“For June of 2023 through June of 2025, Schoolhouse Apartments [Ober] were under billed by $8,557.50, Maple Village by $2,251.75, Rolling Meadows by $5,285.44, and Greensboro Heights by $2,022.25, for a total of $18,116.94 that was not collected,” Yost said.
Yost added that the town has already taken steps to prevent similar mistakes, including ending automatic debits and requiring that bills be physically reviewed before payment. Republic Services, the company providing dumpsters, was notified that the town would end service to apartment complexes effective September 2.
Councilman Pete Brelia said the town, not the complexes or their residents, should bare the responsibility. “I want to be fair. I mean, it's not their mistake. It's actually our mistake in the billing process,” he said. Brelia then made a motion to forgive the charges, which was seconded by Councilman Bill Harrison and passed unanimously.
Phone Lines and Double Services
Yost also found wasteful spending in the town’s phone and utility accounts. “I found that we were paying for phone services that we no longer had. There was approximately eight to 10 phone bills,” she said. One example was a line at the former Weaver Building that had remained active since 2018, costing the town $81.40 each month. The town was also paying for one employee’s spouse’s phone bill.
Her review resulted in the termination of 28 cell phones, seven iPads, and duplicate long-distance services the town already had through Verizon. “The savings on that [will be] probably about $15,000 to $20,000 a year,” Yost said.
Insurance Overvaluation
Yost reported that insurance premiums through Legit were being calculated on inflated property values. She pointed to the former Town Hall at 113 South Main Street, which had been insured at a $635,000 value but sold for $165,000.
“When I contacted [Legit], they said it’s taken them time to get back out to look at properties,” Yost explained. Following her pushback, representatives are scheduled to reassess town properties this month. Greensboro currently pays about $55,000 annually in insurance premiums.
Employee Sick and Vacation Time
The review of expenditures also revealed that the town’s payroll system was not enforcing limits on accrued sick and vacation hours as outlined in the employee manual. “Staff had access to additional hours that they were able to utilize,” Yost said. She has since corrected the system to align with policy.
Water, Sewer, and Electric Accounts
“We are now billing the town of Goldsboro for the outstanding sewer billing monthly. That's not been done in the past,” Yost said, “I am also auditing the Goldsboro water sewer rate for accuracy.” She also found that apartment complexes had been charged flat rates for water and sewer rather than being individually metered. The issue has since been corrected and will be reflected in the next billing cycle.
Additionally, she identified problems with the town’s electric meter maintenance contract. “We found that there was a lot of mistakes, a lot of errors. The meter numbers weren’t matching up and the MTUs…were not matching up,” she said. Public Works staff are now conducting a full inventory to verify meter records.
Moving Forward
Mayor David Spencer reflected on the discoveries, saying that the issues came to light while investigating a phone bill. “There’s been a lot of mistakes, and as the mayor, I have to own that as a leadership in this community,” Spencer said. “We can’t go backwards. We have to move forward…in the end, I think it’s all going to work out, and we’ll get to where we need to be as a community and as a Council.”
Yost concluded with an update that the 2023 financial review has been submitted to outside auditors and is expected back soon. She also announced the town will switch back to QuickBooks, a move she said will save money compared to the current system.
