Audit: Community colleges should limit paid holidays

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Lots of North Carolina community college employees will be having fewer "happy holidays," or at least paid ones.

A state audit released Thursday found more than half of the state's 58 community colleges give their workers more paid holidays than the 12 that state and county employees receive.

In one case, State Auditor Beth Wood found Central Carolina Community College gave workers 23 paid days off, equal to $862,000 in pay during the last fiscal year.

Central Carolina's leadership said they did so to reward workers without raising their actual salaries.

The audit finds that the state community college board hadn't adopted a policy limiting campus holidays.