Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s . . .

Harry Potter and those Twilight vampires need to move over and make room for a new literary superhero.  The mighty local government tax collector returns to the best seller lists this week after a fourteen-year absence with the release of my new book, Fundamentals of Property Tax Collection Law in North Carolina.

That’s right, I said superhero.  True, tax collectors can’t cast spells, aren’t immortal, and don’t wear capes or spandex.  (And for that we should be thankful, especially about the spandex.) But they do have plenty of super powers.  After all, who holds the power to generate the revenue that supports nearly every local government in the state?   Who’s strong enough to freeze a million-dollar bank account with a single piece of paper? Who can track down tax scofflaws and their ill-gotten gains from Murphy to Manteo and beyond? The tax collector, that’s who.

It was way back in 1998 that my predecessor Bill Campbell last detailed the thrilling adventures of local tax collectors in his treatise on tax collection law.   But changing technology and the General Assembly’s habit of messing with the Machinery Act each year necessitated a rewrite of Bill’s excellent book.  Read more »

Tolling Ends, But Permit Extension Law Leaves Many Approvals in Place

The recession that began in 2008 hit the real estate market particularly hard.  Many projects that had been approved lost their funding or had little market for the housing, offices, and shops that would have been built.  One response to this was a decision by the General Assembly in 2009 to extend the life of all development approvals made between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2010.  S.L. 2009-406 provided that any time limits for development approvals that were valid anytime within this three year period would not start running until January 1, 2011.  That law is described in this earlier blog post, with examples of its application provided in this additional post.   S.L. 2010-177 added an additional fourth year to this suspension of the clock for development approvals, but allowed local governments to opt out of the fourth year.  That extension for an additional year is described in this earlier post.  So now that we have reached January 1, 2012, what is the status and impact of these permit extension laws? Read more »

Local Funding of Courts

Before the 1960s North Carolina had a hodgepodge of local courts below the state superior court. In one place or another there were general county and city courts, county criminal courts, domestic relations courts, juvenile courts and recorders courts. Some were established by general state law, many by local act of the General Assembly. Then there were mayors’ courts and justices of the peace. The judges of these local courts — estimated at about 1,400 local courts scattered around the state — were usually part-time and many were paid by the fees they collected. There was no uniformity in the kinds of cases the courts could hear or the procedure they followed.

State constitutional amendments in the early 1960s created a uniform statewide court system. All courts were placed in the General Court of Justice and those various local courts and justices of the peace were replaced with the new district court and magistrates. The jurisdiction of the courts and their rules and procedure were to be the same statewide; all judges were to be chosen by the same method; and all judges and court employees were to be salaried rather than depending on fees. A state Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) was created and assigned responsibility for running the system. Article IV, Section 20 of the constitution specifies that the legislature is to establish a uniform statewide schedule of fees and that the “operating expenses of the judicial department . . . shall be paid from State funds.” By statute, GS 7A-302, counties are responsible for providing courtrooms and other facilities.

This division of fiscal responsibilities — the State pays all operating expenses and counties provide courthouses — was intended to establish uniformity in actuality. Judges, clerks, judicial assistants, prosecutors, etc., all would be paid by the state and would be paid the same regardless of whether they worked in Charlotte or Whiteville, and the number of positions needed in each district would be determined by the AOC applying a standardized needs assessment.

Fifty years on from the creation of the General Court of Justice that uniformity has begun to break down. Local governments have been given the green light by the legislature to supplement the funding of court operations, and the larger counties are adding positions and functions that their less prosperous neighbors cannot afford. Read more »

Finance Officer Fidelity Bonds: When Are Multiple Bonds Required?

Prudence serves as a finance officer for a North Carolina county. As a condition of her initial (and continued) employment Prudence is required to obtain and maintain a “true accounting and faithful performance bond” with coverage of up to $50,000. (The county pays the annual premium on the bond.) Recently, the county agreed to handle the finances for the local tourism development authority (TDA). The TDA is a public authority that was created by resolution of the county’s governing board, as authorized by a local act of the General Assembly. The TDA is funded mainly through occupancy tax proceeds levied by the county. It has its own governing board, whose members are appointed by the county commissioners. Pursuant to the agreement between the TDA and the county, Prudence maintains the TDA’s accounts, deposits and invests its funds, and disburses TDA monies according to the directives provided by the TDA’s governing board. Prudence also prepares the TDA’s financial reports. Because of the nature of the relationship between the TDA and the county, the TDA is considered a component unit of the county and its financials are audited along with the county’s financials.

Prudence is a cautious person by nature and a stickler for following all of the legal provisions that govern her job functions. She recently re-read the Local Government Budget and Fiscal Control Act (LGBFCA) and focused in on the “fidelity bond” requirement in G.S. 159-29. Upon a close reading of the statute, Prudence believes that she may need to obtain a second bond for the finance work she is performing for the TDA. Prudence raises this issue with the county attorney, John Q. Gambler, but he quickly dismisses her concerns. In his opinion, the $50,000 bond that Prudence already has is sufficient to cover all of her duties as the county finance officer, including managing the finances for the TDA.

Who has the correct interpretation of G.S. 159-29, Prudence or Mr. Gambler? Read more »

Canceling and Rescheduling Meetings

Sometimes there just aren’t enough board members to have a meeting. Suppose that a clerk for a North Carolina city or county learns in advance of a meeting that several governing board members have conflicts and will not be able to attend. There won’t be a quorum without these members. What should be done?  What is the process for cancelling and rescheduling meetings? Must the clerk provide notice of the cancellation to the public and the board members? What notice is required of the rescheduled meeting? Must anyone be present at the time and place of the originally scheduled meeting? Who can cancel a meeting? Surprisingly, there is hardly any law (statutes or cases) addressing these issues.  This blog post summarizes several relevant statutory provisions and suggests approaches that may be used when meetings can’t happen. Read more »

Happy Delinquent Tax Day!

Don’t you just love the holiday season? We kick it off with a Thanksgiving feast, exchange presents on Hanukah and Christmas, and then celebrate a fresh start on New Year’s Day. But the fun doesn’t end just because we’ve all headed back to work and school. 

Late last night, the Delinquent Tax Fairy visited local government tax offices across the state, leaving nicely wrapped presents filled with 2% interest and attachment notices.  It must be Delinquent Tax Day!

That’s right: as of 12 a.m. this morning all unpaid 2011-2012 property taxes officially became delinquent.  In a nutshell, this means that interest accrues and enforced collection remedies can begin. 

Please allow me to interrupt your holiday celebrations to provide a few details on what should and can happen after Delinquent Tax Day. Read more »

North Carolina in the Electoral College

Most North Carolinians understand that when we mark our ballots for Jimmy Carter or Ronald Reagan or George Bush or Barack Obama for President, we are not in fact voting for those candidates.  We are, instead, voting for a small set of “electors” who will cast the state’s official votes in the election of the President in the nation’s Electoral College.  But how does that really work?  There are 28 steps, start to finish. Read more »