East Laurinburg does not have to pay Robert's Tree Service for tree removal, according to the N.C. Department of State Treasurer.

At a town board meeting last week Robert Walters, the owner of the tree service, questioned the authenticity of a letter written by the state treasury department relinquishing the town of all fiscal responsibility in the matter.

But Sharon Edmundson, director of fiscal management for the treasurer, verified Tuesday that according to her findings the town does not owe the $145,000 requested by the service for the work it did last summer following a severe storm.

In her letter to East Laurinburg Mayor Randy Miller, Edmundson said that the town never authorized the work and was not liable for it.

"We are aware that Robert's Tree Service is demanding payment of the invoice," Edmundson said. "However, based on our conversations with [Miller] and the town's finance officer, it is our understanding that the town did not have the financial means to enter into the transaction. Furthermore, the obligation was not pre-audited as is required by the Local Budget and Fiscal Control Act, nor was it included in the town's annual budget, again as required by the General Statutes. Therefore, we do not believe this is to be a legal liability of the town and the town is instructed to make no further payments."

The letter also said that several state agencies would not pay for the debris removal because much of the work happened on private property.

Edmundson declined to comment on who was then liable to pay the $145,000 bill.

"When they tell our town, our municipality, not to pay, that is what we are going to do," Miller said.

But the mayor added that the town will continue to seek a way to pay the tree service.

"We are intending to pay Robert," Miller said. "The state is going to help us find a way. We don't know how and we don't when."

Robert Walters, owner of Robert's Tree Service, questioned the treasury's decision.

"It wasn't private property? That was city trees ... How do they come up with that, and how can they say the work wasn't authorized?" Walters said. "The mayor, Randy Miller, was on the phone that night to FEMA. They told him to do what he needed to do. What are they saying, that I just went over there and started cutting down trees for the heck of it? That doesn't make sense."

He said every action he took was approved by either Miller or Mayor Pro Tem Marshall Stevens. He was told that Miller had the ability to authorize the work as mayor because it was an emergency situation.

"This whole thing sounds like a secret, underhanded thing going on," Walters said.

Walters said he thinks the town is trying to find a way to pay him, but the letter does concern him.

"Someone has to pay for it," Walters said.

Walters also repeated his concern with what he says is a phony letter. Walters said he went to the treasury department and several officials, including Edmundson, told him the document was a fake.

Edmundson denies that Walters ever came by her office.

Stevens said the letter that Walters received was a copy of a fax that was sent to the town on Feb. 17, which is why it did not have a letterhead or signature.