Home Care In Summerfield, NC

SUMMERFIELD, N.C. — Like all cities and towns, Summerfield is sorting through its budget but the town's proposal comes with a cost, leaders want to nearly double property taxes.

WFMY News 2's Nixon Norman heard the pushback and why leaders want it.

Thursday's meeting was a chance for those who call Summerfield home to voice their concerns about next year's budget.

One of the biggest topics was a proposed property tax increase and questions about what that money would actually pay for when it comes to services.

Talk in Raleigh about NC House Bill 801 has trickled down to the Town of Summerfield.

Legislators are looking into "paper towns" which are defined as a municipality that exists legally but fails to provide adequate services to its residents.

In order to secure it's place as an official town, Summerfield is looking at nearly doubling property tax from 2.75 cents to 5 cents in order to provide more services to the people.

Town Manager Twig Rollins also said it's in efforts to stop dipping into the town's savings.

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"[We're] trying to get the budget down to a balance budget. We have for a long time, dipped into fund balance every year and we're trying to lessen that amount to the least amount possible to have a balanced budget so revenues equal operating expenses," Rollins said.

Rollins said funding from the increased tax would be used for signs and street lighting, a new public safety contract and in-house billing for trash services. Services those living in Summerfield have questions about.

"I'm okay for public safety and putting in more lights but are we gonna continue and do every intersection in Summerfield? And is it going to continue to cost money or is this just gonna put in a few [lights] to appease legislators in Raleigh?" one public speaker said.

"We already pay taxes to Summerfield Fire Department, we already pay taxes to Guilford County to protect us from fire, we have contracts with these people or they have contracts with us… why am I being charged another tax for this?" another public speaker said.

There was also concern about transparency, one public speaker feeling like the decision to increase property tax has already been made, "you're gonna approve this next Tuesday, you will have no town meeting until August and no opportunity to ask questions at all or even make those measly three minute comments."

Town council was open to hearing these concerns and taking them to the finance officer before making a vote.

The budget includes several personnel costs such as upgrading audio streaming equipment for meetings, strategic planning fund, a new position to manage public record requests to name a couple.

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Raleigh pastor is facing decades behind bars after pleading guilty to receiving more than $400,000 of fraudulent government-funded COVID-19 loans.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 45-year-old Mitchell Summerfield was found guilty of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain COVID-19 loan funds.

According to court documents, Summerfield was the pastor of the Word of God Fellowship Church in Raleigh and owned various other businesses, including Winning Ways, KHS Investments, and Vision and Destiny.

In 2018, Summerfield stepped into the role of lead pastor at Word of God Fellowship, a church founded by his late parents. His church biography describes him as "a next generation leader," crediting him for closing real estate deals valued at over a million dollars.

At one of the companies, Winning Ways, which Summerfield claimed is a home for teen mothers, investigators said it never operated, but he still received a nearly $150,000 loan.

Between July 2020 and July 2021, documents said Summerfield conspired with others to submit false and fraudulent applications for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and Economic Injury Disaster loans (EIDL) for his businesses.

Documents showed that Summerfield submitted multiple EIDL and/or PPP applications on behalf of Winning Ways, KHS Investments, and Vision and Destiny, and made various false statements in the applications in order to get lending agencies to approve and send out the requested loan amounts.

Investigators found that Summerfield also provided fabricated IRS tax forms, including false income tax returns.

As a result of the fraudulent applications, he received more than $400,000 in PPP and EIDL funds and used the proceeds for unauthorized and unlawful purposes, including paying for personal expenses.

According to documents, Summerfield used the money for everything from flights to shopping, designer clothes, and family planning.

At his sentencing, Summerfield is facing up to 30 years in prison, a $1,000,000 fine, and five years of supervised release. The DOJ said Sumerfield will also be required to pay restitution in an amount that is to be determined.

ABC11 reached out to Summerfield's listed attorney by phone to get his side of the story, but she declined the call.

A Raleigh pastor could spend decades in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to obtaining fraudulent COVID-19 loans.

Mitchell Summerfield, 45, is awaiting sentencing on a charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Justice.

Summerfield is the pastor of Word of God Fellowship Church on Rock Quarry Road, according to the church’s website.

The scheme began in July 2020, when Summerfield had his accountants submit fraudulent applications for Paycheck Protection Program loans and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, according to court documents. The programs were created by the U.S. government during the COVID-19 pandemic to help small businesses survive the pandemic.

According to court documents, Summerfield conspired with his accountants and the owner of a financial company to submit fraudulent applications on:

On several occasions, when the fraudulent loans were deposited, the bank accounts they were deposited to would have balances as low as $60, according to court documents.

According to court records, Summerfield used the loans to purchase designer clothing, “family planning,” flights, consulting services and other personal expenses and pay off unrelated loans.

The charges against Summerfield were submitted in federal court Jan. 28, according to court records. At his sentencing, he could face up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine and five years of supervised release, the press release said.

Summerfield may also have to forfeit at least $402,166, the amount he received in fraudulent loans, court records indicate.

North Carolina court records show Summerfield also owes $2,738 in Wake County Court as part of a judgment by Dominion Energy as of Thursday afternoon and has a lien on his Apex home after failing to pay $1,904 to the homeowners’ association.

The church’s website describes Summerfield as its chief operating officer and a member of the board of directors for Winning Ways Community Development Corporation and Word of God Christian Academy.

“Pastor Mitch successfully merged his business acumen and ministry insight into closing real estate deals of over $1 million,” the website states.

The church was founded by Summerfield’s parents in 1988, according to its website.

Summerfield is tentatively set to return to court for sentencing the week of Aug. 11, court records show.

A Raleigh pastor pleaded guilty this week to falsely obtaining thousands of dollars in COVID-19 loans for personal expenses.

According to the United States Department of Justice, 45-year-old Mitchell Summerfield of Raleigh pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and wire fraud. Summerfield faces a maximum 30-year prison sentence, a $1 million fine and a five-year supervised release.

Summerfield was also required to pay restitution of an unspecified amount.

Summerfield was a pastor of the Word of God Fellowship Church in Raleigh and also owned several ventures, including Winning Ways, KHS Investments and Vision and Destiny.

According to documents and other information presented in court, Summerfield conspired with other people to submit false and fraudulent applications for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans and Economic Injury Disaster loans (EIDL) for those entities.

Congress created the PPP program in March 2020 to offer forgivable loans for small businesses to use to cover payroll and other qualified expenses during COVID lockdowns.

According to the Justice Department, Summerfield submitted several PPP and EIDL applications on behalf of Winning Ways, KHS Investments and Vision and Destiny, and made various false statements in the applications to encourage the SBA and lenders to approve and disburse the loan amounts.

The Justice Department also said that Summerfield provided fabricated IRS forms, including false income tax returns, resulting in him receiving more than $400,000 in loans, which they say he used for “unlawful” purposes, including paying for personal expenses.

WRAL News reached out to Word of God church and is waiting to hear back.

'Should shock the conscience of every American'

In 2022, a federal task force was created to investigate people who took money meant for struggling businesses to survive the pandemic. Michael Easley, the former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, was part of that task force.

"There is something that should shock the conscience in every American," Easley said "When you see somebody who's willing to take advantage of a moment of vulnerability for this country. COVID-19 brought this nation to its knees, and we had to fight very hard to get back up again."

According to Easley, his office alone was looking into 150 open cases of COVID-19 relief fraud when he left the office earlier in 2025.

Easley said many cases have started popping up years after the initial loans went out because it takes time to build a case and move them through the legal system. Easley added that we're likely to see even more cases in the next five years because they are still within the statute of limitations to bring these cases forward.

"10 years we have to bring them in," Easley said. "So, anybody who thinks that they haven't heard from the government and therefore nobody is going to catch them, they are dead wrong."

Easley said he believes one reason the fraud has been so problematic with the loans is because the crippling effect the COVID-19 pandemic had on businesses, leading to many safeguard preventing fraud being passed up.

"In hindsight, it would have been much wiser to have stops and checks and safeguards along the way," Easley said. "But when you do that, it could have drastically slowed down getting money in the hands of those who were struggling, who were laid off, businesses that were facing total upheaval as supply chains grinded to a halt.

Easley said that while government officials had to manage a delicate balance on safeguarding the American taxpayer's money and getting the money out quickly, there is one thing in place that made it easier to track fraud with the loans.

"In order to get the money, everybody who applied had to swear under oath, under penalty of perjury, that certain facts were true that they had a business, had a certain number of employees and that their revenues and payments to those employees met certain thresholds," Easley said. "If they lied, the federal government will find them."

Easley said it will take time to find everyone who misused or falsely obtained the loans, but the task force's work wont stop.

"When America was facing one of its greatest challenges in modern history, [you] better know that the federal government is going to do all it can to find every penny and get it back to the public purse," Easley said.

WRAL News reached out Daniel Bubar, the current U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina about how many cases they are investigating. His office said they would provide an update on the investigations on Friday.

Summerfield has a problem.

It’s trying to keep its town charter and, in that attempt to do so, town leaders are proposing nearly doubling the town’s tax rate and adding new services.

The new proposed budget for fiscal 2025-2026 calls for raising the property tax rate from 2.75 cents to 5 cents per $100 of assessed property value, a change that would generate more than $2 million in revenue based on a total tax base of $2.04 billion.

Although the increase is big in terms of percentage, the total tax rate in the end would remain low compared to other municipalities in the state. Town residents aren’t expected to complain too much given the reason for the increase.

The increase, and the addition of new services, is being done in order to help Summerfield convince state leaders amid the ongoing discussion around North Carolina House Bill 801, which targets so-called “paper towns.” Those are incorporated areas with minimal services.

State legislators took a very close look at Summerfield after an extended battle with farmer and developer David Couch, who won in an effort to de-annex about 1000 acres of property in order to move forward with a residential and mixed-use development.

Town Manager Twig Rollins and Finance Officer Jennifer Kelley presented the $10.87 million budget proposal at the Tuesday, May 27 town council meeting.

This is the first tax increase for Summerfield since 2014.

A central feature of this budget is its emphasis on expanding services while simultaneously maintaining Summerfield’s debt-free status.

Summerfield has operated for years as a limited-services municipality, however, the changing needs of its residents and legislative pressure from Raleigh are causing a shift in philosophy for town leaders.

Of the total $10.87 million budget, about $8.43 million will come from grants, and an additional $57,210 will come from the fund balance – essentially the town’s savings account – to close the gap between revenues and expenses.

The town of Summerfield doesn’t have a stop light (some of the HOAs do), but that will be changing soon. [Scott Yost’s note: Apparently I was mistaken about this.] The new funding will be used for signs and street lighting, a new public safety contract, and in-house billing for trash services, which is all meant to show state legislators – including some who currently favor taking Summerfield’s town charter away – that the town really does deserve to be a town.

The budget also introduces funding for a new position to manage public records requests, upgraded audio streaming equipment and a comprehensive website overhaul.

A 3 percent cost-of-living adjustment is included for town employees, signaling an effort to retain and reward town staff, who are all relatively new since last year the entire town staff resigned to show opposition to how the Town Council treated the former town manager.

If the new budget is adopted by the Town Council, then administration – including personnel, services, and capital outlay – is set to receive approximately $679,000, while Parks and Recreation costs are projected at about $749,000. That’s a service that many Summerfield residents are proud of.

Other line items include $138,524 for the governing body, $264,000 for professional services, $162,300 for property and building maintenance and $158,525 for community services and committee functions. In total, these departmental appropriations amount to about $2.44 million.

Summerfield has a lot of money in the bank: Its current reserves exceed $7 million. That strong fund balance has enabled the town to avoid debt while still moving forward with some major capital projects like the Bandera development, the A&Y Greenway and a new water tank – all of which are in progress after years of planning.

In addition to the proposed tax rate increase, some fees will move higher if the proposed budget is adopted in June by the Town Council.

The proposed budget has already gotten the go-ahead from the town’s Finance Committee, which met on Monday, May 19 and recommended approval.