(WXYZ) — Financial disclosure has been a hot topic in Oakland County in recent months, so the 7 Investigators have been taking a closer look at how your tax dollars are being spent.
Watch Heather Catallo's video report:
The 7 Investigators reviewed hundreds of documents of expense reports for Oakland County Executive David Coulter and his top appointees.
County officials say those expenses bring in jobs, but we found examples of how the expense reimbursements for one county official did not always follow county rules.
In his State of the County addresses, Oakland County Executive David Coulter often touts his county’s financial responsibility.
“We pride ourselves on being good stewards for the taxpayers of Oakland County,” said Coulter in his 2024 address. In 2025, he said, “we’ve improved our fiscal policies.”
But expense reports from some of Coulter’s top appointees, reviewed by the 7 Investigators, are raising questions.
One of those appointees is Oakland County Deputy County Executive Sean Carlson. Carlson earns $230,099.22 a year to oversee Economic Development, Procurement and IT for the county.
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As the 7 Investigators first reported, Carlson also owns a private procurement company, Procurement Consulting Group. Carlson told us he no longer plays a day-to-day role with his company that has contracts with other local governments like Wayne County and the city of Pontiac.
Both Coulter and Carlson maintain that Carlson's company is not a conflict of interest.
But when the 7 Investigators received tips about how Carlson spends county money, we filed public records requests for his expense reports.
Those reports show the Deputy County Executive is a frequent flyer, traveling to Sweden, Germany, the United Kingdom, Qatar, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, as well as Las Vegas, Denver, Tampa, Boston, Milwaukee, Washington, D.C., and San Jose.
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We reviewed county records from May 2022 until August 2025. During that time, Carlson charged the taxpayers $46,394.82 for travel, mileage, and meals.
In November of 2022, Carlson and Executive Coulter traveled to Sweden and Germany on a trade mission. Their expense reports show a total of $4855.26. Two additional county employees were also on the trip, but their expenses were not included our records request.
The taxpayers later spent $4788.50 to send Carlson to London for a trade show that he says brought international companies to Michigan. While in London, public records show he stayed in a 5-star hotel, St. James’s Hotel and Club in Mayfair.
Carlson, who’s currently on vacation, spoke to the 7 Investigators by phone on Monday about the travel costs.
“We have 76 of the top 100 Tier 1 suppliers located, in regards to global OEM parts right here in Oakland County… So that really speaks to the R&D and the mobility. And so, we try to be very strategic and targeted. It's important for the taxpayers to understand that we have a budget of $170,000 for business recruitment and our return on investment is $217 to one,” said Carlson.
For his London trip which included one other county employee (whose expenses were not included in our records request), Carlson said they had talks with German defense and security firm Rheinmetall.
“They announced last year that ... they will be building a North American headquarters in Auburn Hills with an investment of $31.7 million, 450 new jobs,” said Carlson.
“Was the result of that London trip?” asked Catallo.
“It's very important—I don't want to come across as saying that it happened because of that. It is a combination of efforts whenever we're talking to a company. ‘Hey, this is what we offer. We can do site location for you. We've got different sites in Oakland County.’ Of course, it's important to understand that we have more mechanical and industrial engineers than any other county in the country. And those are the pitches that we make to their leaders to get our foot in the door. The MEDC (Michigan Economic Development Corporation), we collaborate and coordinate with them. They're also having conversations with Rheinmetall at the same time. The governor announced the Rheinmetall investment last fall,” said Carlson.
In May 2023, expense reports obtained by the 7 Investigators show Carlson also traveled with Oakland County Commission Chair Dave Woodward to Milwaukee. Carlson billed the county $2186.84 for the visit, including airfare, hotel, meals and rideshare trips.
“It was announced that MEDC and Oakland County were partnering with the World Economic Forum to create the only hub in the U.S. for the US Center for Advanced Manufacturing. Dave Woodward was named to the executive committee,” said Carlson.
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Carlson told us the trip was for a conference as part of the Troy-based US Center for Advanced Manufacturing, but no conference documentation was included in his receipts.
A few months later, Carlson and Woodward, who also has outside consulting companies, flew together to Austin, Texas. Carlson billed the county more than $2767.85 for a trip labeled “conference,” but once again, records do not include documentation of a conference.
“There is a pattern of this spending on Oakland County taxpayers' dime that isn't documented thoroughly. That’s concerning,” said Oakland County Commissioner Kristen Nelson (D-Waterford).
Nelson has been calling for better financial oversight in the county.
“It's all about being mindful of how we spend the taxpayer dollars. There is an expectation that when we do travel and we do reimburse travel expenses, there is an expectation that there's very clean and clear documentation,” said Nelson.
When he’s not flying, records show Carlson racking up the miles across Michigan, getting reimbursed $7502.12 for the miles he drove in his personal car during the 39 months of records reviewed.
Internal county memos show, Oakland County employees are encouraged to save money by using a county vehicle, especially “for trips in excess of 42 miles.”
“Knowing that we have county vehicles that are readily available— that is a very clear and clean-cut example of wasteful spending,” said Nelson.
Even though county reimbursement regulations state, “no mileage will be reimbursed for travel between an employee’s domicile and his/her workstation," Carlson’s records routinely show mileage reimbursement from his home in Commerce Township to work meetings around Michigan.
The deputy county executive billed mileage for travel from his home to sites in Detroit, Wyandotte, and even Mackinaw City, when mileage from the county offices in Waterford would have cost taxpayers less.
Carlson said he did not know his assistants were billing his mileage from home, even though his signature is on expense reports the 7 Investigators reviewed.
“I thought we were doing it the correct way,” said Carlson.
Carlson said all the mileage was for county business, but his reports lack detail about what type of business was conducted.
“Our meetings were taken on behalf of Oakland County, but I understand what you're saying. It looks as if, okay, well, what meeting are you having? What meeting is this?” said Carlson.
Carlson also regularly charges mileage to the taxpayers to attend meetings at his private club, the Detroit Athletic Club. In all, Carlson billed mileage to the DAC at least 45 times, often charging for travel from his home. The DAC is more than 40 miles from Carlson’s home, and about 32 miles from county offices.
“Should the taxpayers really have to pay for all of your back and forth there?” asked Catallo.
“I’d like to understand and maybe get the report to see how many back and forths there are there. But I certainly have gone there to conduct meetings. There's no doubt about that. But I hear the point that you're making,” said Carlson.
Agendas from some of his DAC meetings show, in the fall of 2023, Carlson hosted Commission Chair Woodward for Pontiac redevelopment meetings with developers, real estate executives, and even James Esshaki, who was later appointed to the Road Commission of Oakland County.
Carlson said the meetings were to encourage people to bid on the Pontiac redevelopment project that’s expected to cost taxpayers at least $370 million.
“If you feel a need to entertain them in order to get them to bid, why are you doing it at a place that's not in Oakland County?” asked Catallo.
“Given the importance and the gravitas of this project, I felt it was appropriate,” said Carlson.
Commissioner Nelson says the county has a lot of available meeting spaces that don’t cost anything, and questions why these developer meetings were held off-site.
“Using taxpayer dollars at a private club outside of the county – that raises some red flags,” said Nelson.
When Carlson submitted those bills for reimbursement, records show he did not provide details, instead submitting an ‘affidavit of lost receipt.’ This week, after the 7 Investigators asked about those meetings, Carlson produced the itemized receipts. Records show the DAC bills for the meals for potential bidders totaled $1195.13, including $100 room charges for some meetings.
“I didn't feel like the costs were exorbitant, and I felt like that they were reasonable,” said Carlson.
“In regard to the competitive bids that came in, I believe that more than benefited at the end of the day in regards to our decisions to have those conversations,” said Carlson.
In 2024 and 2025, Carlson also got reimbursed for mileage to five off-site meetings at a Keego Harbor restaurant to discuss spinning off the Courts and Law Enforcement Management Information System (CLEMIS). Those meetings included current county employees and local police chiefs. He also submitted expenses for $133.71 in meals for those off-site CLEMIS meetings. Carlson said the meeting spot was the most convenient for everyone involved.
Many times, Carlson’s expense reports did not follow county policy that states mileage must be turned in within 30 days, and travel expenses within 15 workdays. Records show his expenses have sometimes been submitted months later, and sometimes not even until the following year.
Former state representative Jim Townsend is the director of the Carl Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy at Wayne State. He says if there are questions about expenses, public trust can be hurt.
“It causes people to think that their tax dollars are not being used wisely,” said Townsend. “All levels of government have a crisis of credibility, and a government that's not credible struggles to do the people's business.”
An Oakland County spokesman told the 7 Investigators, Carlson’s meetings and relationships have helped secure thousands of new jobs in the county but some of his expenses appear to be unique.
A Wayne County spokesman said their employees and appointees are not allowed to get reimbursed for expenditures at private clubs. Macomb County officials told the 7 Investigators that while they don’t have a policy against it, it is not something they do either.
On Wednesday, Oakland County Public Information Officer Bill Mullan sent us this statement:
“Oakland County has a rigorous employee reimbursement process which involves a multi-layered review to ensure full compliance with county policy. When clerical errors occur, the county has procedures to rectify them. When Deputy County Executive Sean Carlson learned of overpayments in mileage claims of $495 over four years, he took immediate action to return the funds.
“Deputy Carlson meets and builds relationships with business leaders and entrepreneurs from around the region, the state, the U.S. and the world considering investing in Oakland County. The expenses associated with that work are budgeted for and have helped secure more than $1.3 billion in new investment and 4,500 jobs for our residents.”
The 7 Investigators are continuing to review the expense reports of other county appointees and elected officials. We will bring you those stories in the coming weeks.
If you have a story for Heather Catallo, please email her at hcatallo@wxyz.com