By Delayna Earley
The Island News
Maria Walls, in her capacity as Beaufort County Treasurer, has filed a lawsuit against Beaufort County to attempt to preserve the autonomy of her office from Beaufort County Administration.
In an open letter to Beaufort County citizens and in the lawsuit, which was filed on Friday, Oct. 6, 2023, Walls said that she has successfully fulfilled the role that she was elected to do while maintaining autonomy from the Administration.
“I am determined to defend your vote against an organization that shows a complete lack of ownership for the massive failure of leadership unfolding before us all,” Walls said in her letter.
Walls said in the letter, sent to The Island News on Friday morning, that filing the lawsuit is the only remaining option for her to “preserve the separation of powers” between her office and Beaufort County per the State Constitution.
Read Beaufort County Treasurer Maria Walls’ open letter to Beaufort County citizens.
Read Beaufort County Treasurer Maria Walls’ lawsuit against the Beaufort County administration.
In the lawsuit, the County is accused of deviating “from its regular budgeting process for fiscal year 2022 to 2023.”
“Unknown employees of the County” changed and altered funding requests submitted by the Treasurer by replacing funding requests with arbitrary amounts without her knowledge and then presented the modified requests to the Beaufort County Council, all while claiming that the modified documents were authored by the Treasurer’s office.
The suit also alleges that under former County Administrator Eric Greenway’s leadership, the County began interfering with the Treasurer’s management of their personnel by directing high level administrative staff to stop interacting and communicating with the Treasurer, refusing to classify employees of the Treasurer’s office as directed and claiming that the County Administrator possessed the authority to direct the Treasurer’s budget by making decisions about Treasurer’s office employee compensation.
According to the lawsuit, the situation did not improve after Greenway was placed on administrative leave, when John Robinson was appointed to Interim County Administrator.
Walls alleges that the County refused to pay Treasurer’s office employees who worked through Tropical Storm Idalia compensation consistent with the pay that county employees receive for working during a disaster.
The County Administration also allegedly asserted that the Office of the Treasurer needs to receive written approval from the County Administrator or County Council to hire attorneys to represent the Office of the Treasurer against County Administration.
In her open letter, Walls states that she plans to defend Beaufort County citizens’ vote, citing twice in the past 11 years when taxpayers have voted to decide that the Treasurer’s Office should maintain its autonomy from Beaufort County Administration.
“I expect the County’s retaliation to continue,” Walls said in the letter. “I expect false and misleading accusations to be made about me, the Treasurer’s Office, or others who are striving to bring sunlight to the darkness that has become Beaufort County’s culture.”
Walls calls on citizens to use their voice and engage in Beaufort County government by speaking during public meetings, writing letters to the editor of the local newspapers and voting at the ballot box.
Beaufort County Public Information Officer Hannah Nichols said Tuesday in an email that the County does not comment on pending litigation.
Delayna Earley lives in Beaufort with her husband, two children and Jack Russell. She formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She joined The Island News in 2022. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
