Sanford Council demands event cost accountability as DSI draws scrutiny

The Sanford City Council continued its discussion on funding “extra” downtown police and expanded on funding accountability at the July 14 work session. Member Charles Taylor had asked the council to review government expenses on all events to inform the public of the cost of each event, such as movies and concerts in the park. Because the city needs to be accountable and make budget decisions based on expenses and revenue. At present, there are no detailed expense reports on events that would help the council decide whether it should fund specific events in the future.

Town Manager Hal Hegwer said he would give Sandhills News the event expense reports after they had gathered the information.

The council began the funding accountability discussion with downtown.

Downtown Sanford Inc. (DSI) has a contract with the City of Sanford to partially fund the downtown police on foot patrol.

However, the state mandates that the city funds the police as a public safety service with property taxes. Extra police protection is not the responsibility of DSI.

North Carolina General Statute 160A-536(d) maintains that contracts between a city and a private agency, such as DSI, to manage taxpayers’ funds require a strict, transparent annual accounting of how those public tax dollars were used.

Mayor Rebecca Salmon asked DSI if tracking expenses and revenue was easy, and she didn’t want staff to have to go backwards.

Member Linda Rhodes supported Salmon’s concern of overworking DSI staff by rephrasing the question when she asked if collecting payments and tracking costs had been cumbersome.

Member Mark Akinosho wanted to know if costs and sponsorship [tax dollars from Sanford] were budgeted and how much profit DSI made with its advertising. He suggested basing their budget on costs from previous years.

“Not trying to make money off public service, but at the same time, need to budget wisely,” Akinosho said.

Member Walter Ferguson agreed with Akinosho and added that the council wanted to know the costs to close streets and labor costs.

CORRECTION and a new quote from the City of Sanford: City Financial Services Director Bethany Stephens [not “A DSI representative” who had her back to the attendees and did not introduce herself] said they monitor costs, but “not necessarily for events.” The City of Sanford Financial Services Director did not know how much was spent to close streets or on labor costs.

In a July 17 email from the council, they write, “As Mrs. Stephens explained during the work session, while the City does not currently produce a standardized “after-event expense report,” staff can certainly generate one once Council provides direction on the information it would like the report to include.”

However, as clarified in the original ariticle, in the sentence prior to the council’s new quote, they “monitor costs, but “not necessarily for events.”

Akinosho explained how they could use simple software to track their budget.

Hegwer asked how they should quantify how much money DSI spends and generates if an event brings in revenue for downtown businesses.

DSI Director Kelli Laudate owns 145 and 147 N. Steele Street properties, purchased in 2021, and rents them to businesses. They are in the downtown district, which she markets with taxpayers’ funds.

Because Kelli Laudate owns commercial properties within the downtown district, she is paid with taxpayers’ dollars to manage, North Carolina General Statute 55A-8-31 and IRC 4958 require complete transparency. The DSI board must document her written disclosures and ensure she is recused from any decisions, marketing budgets, or grants benefiting her Steele Street properties.

Laudate’s downtown property ownership is not checked on DSI’s 2024-2025 IRS Form 990 under disclosable conflict of interest in section VI.

By the way, DSI paid $2,725 for accounting services, according to the 2024-2025 IRS Form 990.

The chart below is from DSI’s 2024-2025 IRS Form 990 under EXPENSES:

The appearance of impropriety is questioned.

Laudate’s husband, Jamey Laudate, works for SAS and SAS’s co-founder’s son, James Goodnight Jr. purchased a string of properties under his business, Punic Properties LLC, on Steele Street: 142, 144, 138, 240, 119, 121, 126, 132, and 130, plus 234 Carthage Street.

Downtown’s rehabilitation was discussed by The Rant in March 2022. Holly, co-owner of Beech and Boon’s, stated Kelli Laudate, as director of Downtown Sanford, Inc., recruited them before the Laudates bought the building. The owners cited the long-term “growth potential” of the area despite it “not being the nicest spot yet” at the time.

During the July 14 work session, member Jean Dabbs said her sister was afraid to stay overnight in a downtown apartment, so she chose a hotel.

The mayor said that once they “activate downtown” people won’t feel isolated.

The council discussed reducing the “extra” downtown police hours by cutting Mondays and increasing lighting to help people feel safe.

At the end of the meeting, Rhodes apologized for having called her colleagues a bad word in a text message.

The next meeting is July 21 at 5 p.m.

July 15, 2026

Stephanie M. Sellers

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