The Town of Cary is promising changes to its policy governing town-issued credit cards after a report from the North Carolina State Auditor’s Office partly blamed the widespread use of the cards for “questionable” spending.
The report found that 828 Cary employees had a town-issued credit card, also known as a purchasing card or P-Card, as of November 2025. Employees charged more than $24 million to the cards over a two-year period.
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“A lot of those expenses were not backed up by invoices or receipts,” State Auditor Dave Boliek said.
About 62% of Cary employees had a P-Card, compared with an average of 16% of municipal employees in North Carolina’s most populous communities as of May 2026.
“The greater concern was not how many cards were issued. It was the lack of oversight of the expenses,” former Cary Town Council member Jennifer Robinson told WRAL on Monday.
Robinson served as an elected official in Cary for nearly 30 years. She said she began seeing red flags in summer 2025, when then-Town Manager Sean Stegall reported a hotel expense that she said was invalid.
“That opened up the question of how did that happen? Why are we having an expenditure that’s not being reviewed?” Robinson said.
The state auditor’s report flagged questionable purchases that included Ray-Ban sunglasses, steaks and video production for a town retreat. It said Cary’s current policy “establishes internal controls governing the issuance and use of P-Cards,” but has not been updated since 2009 and does not reflect current practices.
A separate report commissioned by the Town of Cary and released last week found that Stegall controlled much of the financial information provided to Town Council members.
“[Stegall] often encouraged staff to ignore procedures and practices, especially related to travel, meals and P-Card usage, and he personally modeled this behavior,” Cary officials wrote in response to the state auditor’s report.
Stegall has not responded to WRAL’s repeated requests for comment.
WRAL has also sent town officials several questions about P-Card policies, oversight and training.
In a lengthy response to the state auditor’s recommendations, Cary officials said they expect to have a P-Card training plan and clearer policies governing allowable purchases and expense reviews in place by February 2027.
The town said it has reduced the number of employees with P-Cards by 25% since the State Auditor’s Office began its investigation.
“There needs to be a policy about who qualifies to have a P-Card, what expenditures can be placed on a P-Card and, of course, who’s reviewing those monthly expenses,” Robinson said.
Additional changes could come this week. During Thursday’s Town Council meeting, members are expected to consider a policy protecting whistleblower employees who report problematic workplace behavior. The auditor’s report accused Stegall of bullying and intimidation.
