State health officials will take over the finances of Southeastern Center for Mental Health starting Friday in an attempt to get the beleaguered facility's budget under control.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services warned Southeastern administrators in March that the move was a possibility after the center began struggling meeting payments for client services with the state funding it had.

"We appreciate the efforts that you and your staff have undertaken to try to resolve the Center's financial difficulties," Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dempsey Benton wrote in a letter Tuesday to Southeastern's area director Art Costantini. "Unfortunately, we do not believe that to date those efforts have been sufficient to ensure the Center's long-term financial viability and its ability to continue to provide adequate services for consumers. (more…)

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