Leadership of the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) gave incomplete responses to pointed questions from members of the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations Subcommittee on Hurricane Response and Recovery during the November 18 hearing.
On the agency’s funding need, which her presentation and press reports inaccurately pegged at $221 million, (now former) NCORR Director Laura Hogshead said, “Worst case scenario is the $264 million number… if there’s no attrition or not able to use any other sources of funding.” But that figure did not include any contingency for higher construction costs for any of the roughly 1,400 homes still to be completed. From a spreadsheet NCORR provided to the subcommittee, building in a contingency would bring the remaining unmet need to $289 million, on top of $30 million appropriated by the General Assembly in October.
Governor Roy Cooper’s Deputy Legislative Counsel Pryor Gibson, who appeared before the subcommittee with Hogshead, first told legislative leadership about NCORR’s $289 million need on October 21, two days before the chambers were to vote on assistance to the western counties devastated by Hurricane Helene.
By 2021, NCORR budgeted $534 million of $982 million in federal funds for hurricanes Matthew and Florence to repair and rebuild homes in its Homeowner Recovery Program (HRP.) Since then, NCORR has transferred $148 million in additional funds from other purposes in that federal pot to bring the total for repairs and reconstruction to $683 million. The latest estimate for HRP is $980 million, which leaves, along with NCORR’s other spending on Matthew and Florence, a deficit of $319 million.
Hogshead acknowledged to Rep. Brenden Jones (R-Columbus, Robeson) that she did not raise flags as the program took on more than it could cover because, while staff were monitoring individual line items, no one was monitoring at the overall budget. Although she took the blame for it, Hogshead refused to resign.
While NCORR’s financial problems prompted the hearing, much of the time was spent looking back at the agency’s other problems and looking ahead to potential responses to Hurricane Helene. Gibson promised better financial reporting to the legislature, and members remained skeptical about providing more money to NCORR. Rep. Jones closed with a touching personal note about the people he and other members see every day who are counting on state government to fulfill its promises without delay.