A state auditor's report released Tuesday raises questions about how the state has handled a contract for retreading tires, including a finding of possible overcharges.

The tire contractor, White's Tire Service of Wilson, "may have overcharged local school districts and the N.C. Department of Transportation a minimum of $361,592 per year...," according to the report from State Auditor Les Merritt. The contract has been in place since 2002.

The reason is that the contractor charged the state for the maximum number of "spot repairs" allowed on almost every tire that it could. Under the contract, up to three such repairs would be paid on each tire.

A sample taken by the auditor showed the state was billed for three spot repairs -- a repair that amounts to buffing out a damaged area prior to retreading the tire -- in 99.1 percent of the cases sampled.

The auditor's report said such repairs are outside industry norms. Other tire companies and industry experts told the auditor's office that "it is not routine to perform three spot repairs per tire for on-the-road tires."

Owners of White's Tire could not be reached Tuesday but told auditors that the volume of repairs was because of a focus on safety and quality. All spot repairs were legitimate, the owners told auditors.

The auditor's office recommended to Secretary of Administration Britt Cobb that future tire retread contracts not allow for separate "spot repair" charges and instead include them in the base bid price for tire retreading.

School systems were OK with the change, but DOT was not, Cobb wrote in a response.

Cobb said a new contract will keep the option of spot repairs for DOT divisions but eliminates it for school systems.

No veto override

Gov. Mike Easley said Tuesday he will not call legislators to Raleigh to consider overriding his seventh veto.

Last month, Easley vetoed Senate Bill 542, legislation that would have given major state employee associations greater access to the state workplace.

Easley issued an executive order, though, that incorporated much of what the bill's advocates wanted: an ability to recruit and consult with members at state agencies and offer them supplemental insurance products.

The State Employees Association of North Carolina had sought the legislation because it said some state agency heads were resisting the association's efforts to promote supplemental insurance for eye care, property and other needs.

The legislation had passed overwhelmingly in the House and Senate, but members had said they would not fight the veto.

Easley said in a proclamation Tuesday that "a majority of the members of each House of the North Carolina General Assembly have signed written requests stating that a reconvened session to reconsider vetoed legislation is unnecessary."

Sanitary, not sterile

Funeral home preparation rooms -- facilities where corpses are made ready for burial or cremation -- may not be sterile, but they are required to be sanitary, the state board that regulates the funeral industry emphasized in a statement last week.

The statement comes in the wake of revelations that a now-closed Raleigh company, Donor Referral Services, collected human tissues intended for transplant from bodies at least one area funeral home. Most organ and tissue harvesting is done in sterile operating rooms, often at the hospital before the body is collected for burial or cremation.

Donor Referral Services was not ordered to close down because of where its owner, Philip Guyett, recovered tissues (there are no laws that prohibit collecting them directly from funeral homes).

But the N.C. Board of Funeral Service reports that funeral homes in the state are inspected regularly to ensure compliance with board laws that require preparation rooms be sanitary at all times. Funeral homes are also required to sterilize instruments used in the preparation process, according to the statement. Guyett used his own instruments to recover tissues, The News & Observer has reported.