The audit released this week led to the resignation of the rural center’s president, Billy Ray Hall.

The state audit specifically mentioned Halifax County, saying the creation of 82 jobs as required by an $814,000 grant award had not been verified by the rural center, despite the termination of the grant period seven months earlier.

“We’ve been reporting our numbers. I’m not sure what’s done by them (the rural center),” Halifax County Manager Tony Brown said Thursday. “We track it here. I’m not sure what happens there.”

The funds were for the extension of sewer lines to help facilitate the expansion of Reser’s Fine Foods Don Pancho Mexican food plant.

Cathy Scott, executive director of the Halifax County Development Commission, said the rural center conducted a site visit on April 25 of last year. “We provided formal documentation as provided by the grant award to the North Carolina Rural Center,” she said Friday. “We provided our documentation letter from the company that verifies their job creation.”

Scott said those actions closed out that particular project.

It is unclear how the audit will impact future projects in rural counties like Halifax, Scott said. “I think it’s important to have a funding source to help us in rural counties to support industrial growth and expansion.”

The county can’t do those things alone without tapping into fund balance, she said. “If we have a company that requires infrastructure the rural center has been a great source. If they’re not there, where will it go? The rural areas need funding sources like the rural center provided to be competitive in job creation, saving the fund balance and avoiding a tax increase.”