NC interim audit: ex-first lady’s salary too high

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina State Auditor Beth Wood thinks former first lady Mary Easley’s university salary was too high but that her staff may have set the bar too low for the value of Easley’s work.

Wood released an interim report Thursday that her department performed examining whether Easley should have received $170,000 a year from North Carolina State University.

Report investigators calculated late last year that Easley should have received a $79,000 salary, but N.C. State officials disagreed.

Wood told reporters the school made some good points and the report had too many holes in it. She decided to put the final report on hold earlier this year, in part because federal prosecutors were now investigating activities surrounding Mary Easley and former Gov. Mike Easley.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.