
In the spirit of transparency and adherence to governmental law, the N.C. Department of Transportation has released its weekly "NCDOT Cash Watch Numbers" report, a detailed accounting of the department's financial inflows and outflows. Committed to Session Law 2019-251 of the N.C. General Assembly, the NCDOT disseminates these figures every Friday via a news release, save for when a holiday prompts a rescheduling to the nearest working day. Interested parties can find the latest cash report, along with its predecessors, on NCDOT's webpage.
Each freshly published financial snapshot commences with a throwback to the combined cash balance noted in the report from the previous week. Detailed within the release are sections dedicated to receipts, an outline of broad categories for disbursements, and the concluding combined cash balance. Additionally, the report provides a view of "reserved cash" balances, as mentioned on the N.C. Department of Transportation website—money specifically earmarked for particular undertakings and tucked away in a Trustee Account, to be spent as payments for completed segments of projects that link with Build NC bonds, GARVEE bonds or Energy Savings-Roadway lighting funds.
It should be noted that the landscape of NCDOT's cash balance is one characterized by ebb and flow, shaped daily by the rhythms of revenue collection and financial distributions. Hence the weekly numbers present a provisional scenario, not the definitive fiscal picture. The official monthly cash balance stands crystallized only at each month's close, following a rigorous reconciliation of line items. As such, the figures we see from week to week are mere glimpses; they do not forecast the final monthly number.