Editorial: Landis town board must answer questions, too

Published 12:25 am Sunday, March 24, 2019

This week, the public learned what may turn out to be the most significant piece of evidence in allegations levied against former Town Manager Reed Linn and finance officer Ginger Gibson.

And if allegations it has levied against its ex-employees in the form of a civil suit and tax data turn out to be true, members of the Landis Board of Aldermen may bear a share of the blame, too.

First, the town of Landis on Wednesday filed a civil suit against the pair of ex-staffers, alleging that the pair paid themselves more than $25,000 more than was authorized for salary and benefits. Through the filing of the suit, it became clear the town hopes to recoup a significant sum of money. One day later, we learned the exact degree to which Linn and Gibson are alleged to have paid themselves inflated and unauthorized salaries. Data from W-2s obtained by the town through its payroll service and released Thursday, show that Linn’s compensation was $50,048.49 in 2008, topped out at $345,871 in 2017 and dipped to 286,541 one year later. Gibson’s compensation was $33,763.19 in 2008, reached a peak of $248,007.80 in 2017 and decreased to $216,168.66 in 2018, according to data released by the town.

If those numbers come from tax forms, it’s unlikely that the data is only for hours worked, as compensation could also include items such as mileage reimbursements. Still, Linn’s reported compensation is miles away from what local government managers make in Rowan County and across North Carolina. Consider, for a moment, that in 2016 County Manager Aaron Church received a five-year contract extension in which his salary was $139,500. He would also receive a $500-per-month car allowance and $1,500-per-year civic club allowance. The same year, Linn’s compensation was reported to be $275,975.02.

Not even the fact that Linn served as town manager and fire chief explains having a salary that large. Only in the largest North Carolina cities could one combine the salary of the fire chief and town manager and top the compensation Linn and Gibson are reported to have earned.

The W-2 data makes it comical that the town released a salary sheet earlier this year showing Linn was underpaid by $23,740 compared to the N.C. average.

But there’s more to this story.

Consider the fiscal year 2018 budget workshop in the town of Landis.

Meeting minutes posted online show the workshop was called to order at 5:15 p.m. Linn told board members that the board had received a balanced budget proposal at the May 7 meeting. Linn had met with board members. No changes had been made. A public hearing was scheduled for June 25. The meeting adjourned at 5:18 p.m. — three minutes.

In 2017, the budget workshop was 24 minutes, a portion of which involved Landis resident Nadine Cherry asking questions about line items.

The board met for a longer amount of time in prior years, sometimes holding two budget workshops, but the situation Landis finds itself in now involves complaining that salaries were presented in a lump sum instead of itemized by employee — something we’re not sure is a common practice in any Rowan County town, except when a new position is proposed — while simultaneously having short budget workshops about a multi-million-dollar budget that, unlike most other towns, also includes an electric system.

Like it or not, the Board of Aldermen approved the budgets in which the alleged inflated compensation of Linn and Gibson are contained. That doesn’t make what’s alleged right, but it certainly raises questions about whether any serious analysis of the budget was done by the town board — one of the two most important duties of a town board member (the other is hiring a manger). A close-enough reading of the budget may have brought the scrutiny Landis is facing now to the forefront at an earlier date and, potentially, saved taxpayers money.