Pirate's Cove

And no one seems to be asking relevant questions like

• “Why don’t you tighten your belt?”
• “How about spending the forcibly taken citizen money responsibly?”
• “How about an independent audit on previous spending?”

These are questions that the Credentialed Media should be asking, and asking hard, rather than writing a rather sanitized article

‘Breach of trust’: Town of Cary mayor blames former town manager for 2026-2027 fiscal year budget make up

On Thursday, the Town of Cary approved the 2026-2027 fiscal year budget at $579 million.

This budget is a 12.2% increase compared to last year’s budget and $6 million more than the recommended budget set in May.

Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said the town is playing catch up after the former town manager’s alleged misuse of funds.

“I mention the breach of trust because that’s the context in which this budget was developed,” Weinbrecht said.

A criminal investigation was opened by the Wake County DA in January into former town manager Sean Stegall’s actions, but, so far, nothing has come of it

Stegall is accused of allocating money for luxury hotel rooms, two land deals totaling more than a million dollars, and tens of thousands of dollars towards a master’s degree for Mayor Pro Tem Lori Bush, who later reimbursed the town.

So, why does that require $6 million more?

Weinbrecht said the Cary Police Department is understaffed by 89 officers, and Cary Fire response times are increasing as the town grows.

What were the mayor and town council doing when this was occurring?

Cary residents will see an 8% tax increase set at 2.75 cents (this is for property owners, hitting them up)

Doesn’t seem like much, but, it all adds up

The budget also includes 55 new Town of Cary jobs, including a budget director and two audit focused finance positions to create more transparency and accountability into the towns finances.

CBS17 asked the Town of Cary what those roles will consist of and what the base salary is for the position, but we were told the town could not address those questions.

Other than 3 mentioned specifically, what are the other jobs? Per WRAL, there will supposedly be a bunch of money to hire dozens of police, fire, and 911 workers. If you or I overspent, did stupid things, who do we go to and forcibly take money from? It just goes to show that even at the local level government is insane.