Hoke County Commission Racks Up More Huge Travel Expenses
It has spent $46,362.44 in 8 months to visit Florida, D.C. and more. Add reimbursement for regional meetings and it's speeding toward breaking its $63,564.22, single-year travel expense record.
‘Honest Abe’ ponders the wisdom of spending nearly $20,000 to pay him a visit when the Hoke County remains one the worst in the state when it comes to investing in schools. (Photo courtesy of the National Park Service)
Hoke County spent $18,727.85 to send all five Hoke County commissioners to the National Association of Counties annual meeting, March 1 to 4, 2025. When the elected officials visited Florida eight months ago the bill was $21,637.55. Sandwiched between trips was a budget retreat in Raleigh 90 minutes up the road—one critics claim should have been conducted locally for free—that set the county back $5,997.04.
In the last eight months the elected officials have racked up $46,362.44 in travel bills we know of, all covered in full by tax dollars. That figure doesn’t include regional meetings, or distant gatherings attended by less than the entire commission. At a time when other counties routinely send smaller, select groups to similar events as a cost-saving measure, it’s raised serious oversight concerns.
The response from our latest Freedom of Information Act request (seen below) indicates each commissioner received $1,200 to cover food during the March trip to our nation’s capital. Hotel charges for four nights ranged from Harry Southerland’s high of $2,507.46 to Tony Hunt’s $1,547.69. That’s $626.87 and $386.92 per night, respectively.
We were unable to confirm if Hunt was there all four nights, although he received the same $1,200 meal allotment as the others. Precisely why Southerland’s room charges were higher remains unclear.
In Perspective
The Hoke County Commission has spent more to attend just three recent meetings—D.C., Florida and the Raleigh budget retreat—than the annual travel budget for the entire Fayetteville City Council (including mayor). There are 10 members of that body, not five, representing roughly 210,000 people instead of 53,000.
Last month’s Washington, D.C., trip would have cost Hoke County more than Florida’s outing if it paid for Thomas’s registration and hotel stay. They were covered by the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. If the county was charged and paid the same room rate as James Leach and Mary McCollum, the total cost would have been $21,653.90. That’s more than the Tampa trip.
Barely Announced Cancellations
Many few residents were surprised the March 3 Hoke County Commission meeting was canceled while their elected officials visited D.C. It resurrected an anger that boiled over last summer when officials used a similar tactic.
“Official notification” was issued as a single 8 1/2x11-inch announcement (seen below) posted on an interior chamber door at the county office. It’s the minimum effort required legally, but it was likely locked behind main exterior doors by 5 p.m. for security reasons. Constituents arriving two hours later for a commission meeting, which usually begins at 7 p.m., had no way of reading it.
Critics noted that unless you had business with the county beforehand it couldn’t be seen. It was, once again, mentioned at the previous meeting. Unfortunately, family and work obligations prevent most citizens from attending each one. Videotape of the proceeding posted by the county posts online has no subtitles and audio is chronically unintelligible.
Inside the building, behind doors locked hours in advance, it’s tough to see how this notice qualifies as sincere outreach to constituents.
No announcement appeared on the county’s website. No notice was sent by the listserve that once sent commission agendas beforehand and nothing was posted on the county’s social media accounts. Lack of any notification other than the single sheet of typing paper, however, is nothing new for Hoke County.