Report: North Carolina hurricane funds delayed

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — A North Carolina government watchdog agency says administrative mistakes and a lack of expertise caused delays in the state’s distribution of certain federal long-term recovery funds following Hurricane Matthew.

The report released Monday by the non-partisan Program Evaluation Division also found $3.7 million in unnecessary state spending.

The state received a federal block grant of $199 million in December 2016, which was later increased to $237 million. But as of December 2018— over two years after Matthew made landfall — only 1% of it had been spent. South Carolina spent 22% of a similar award during the same time period.

The report says North Carolina was inexperienced with this type of grant.

In response, state recovery leaders acknowledged their inexperience led to a delay, but disagreed with some of the report’s conclusions.