Is Interstate Competition Required for Economic Development Incentives?

A company’s sole facility has been located in North Carolina for the past decade, but the company recently decided to move its facility to a new location in order to expand its operations. It has three choices: (1) move to an available facility in the same county in which it is currently located, (2) move to an available facility in the county next door, which is another North Carolina county, or (3) move out of state. The company’s executives determine that moving out of state is not advantageous for the company, so the search is narrowed to the two counties in North Carolina. The company approaches each of the two counties and requests incentives. With no out-of-state competitor in the picture, may the two North Carolina counties offer incentives to the company pursuant to G.S. 158-7.1? Read more »

Is This Spot Legal?

NOTE:  Post updated 11/8/21 to incorporate statutory and case law updates.

At long last Malcolm Tucker had found a spot to locate his nightclub. After several failed attempts to locate his club in town, he decided to move out to the county. He found a vacant lot a couple of miles out of town on a well-travel road. The site was flat, had water and sewer lines across the road, and had plenty of space for his building and parking. The nearby property was mostly fields and woods, with a few houses scattered along the road.

Malcolm’s staff advised him that the only problem to overcome before starting construction was getting a rezoning. The site, like all of the property in this part of the county, was zoned RA-40. This county zoning district allows residential development on one-acre lots, but no commercial uses. The county planner had suggested that Tucker seek a rezoning to the county’s highway commercial district. That district allows a range of businesses, including a nightclub of the size and scale Tucker had in mind. So Malcolm had been exploring this rezoning idea with his friends on the county board of commissioners. He had chatted with all of the commissioners and each had let him know they would support his rezoning petition.

One of the commissioners, however, made a point in passing that was troubling Malcolm. She mentioned the term “spot zoning” and said something about the county’s recently adopted land use plan calling for this area to retain its rural character. But she had told him not to worry as she was on board for his rezoning. But Malcolm was the worrying type. In an abundance of caution, Malcolm calls his lawyer. After laying out the situation, Malcolm asks, “Is this land use plan business going to hold me up? I’ve gotten commitments from all the commissioners that they’ll vote for my rezoning, so I’m feeling pretty good about this one. I don’t know what this “spot” business is all about. I don’t need some disgruntled neighbor or hotshot lawyer messing me up at the last minute. Just tell me this isn’t a problem.” Does Malcolm have a problem? Read more »

Funding Options for Municipal Fire Services

Counties and municipalities in North Carolina are not required to furnish (or fund) fire protection services for their citizens, but many local governments provide, or contract for the provision of, these services within their units. And, typically that fire protection extends beyond basic fire prevention and suppression services to include, among other things, emergency dispatch services, medical and other response services, and building code enforcement. Local governing boards have much leeway in determining the types and amounts of these services to provide. See G.S. 153A-233 & -234; G.S. 160A-291. They also have a broad array of service provision options. Both counties and municipalities may establish one or more county or municipal fire departments. They also may contract with nonprofit volunteer or community fire departments or rescue squads. For most counties, maintaining a county fire department is cost prohibitive. For that reason, almost all fire services in unincorporated areas are furnished by rural or municipal fire departments. In contrast, many municipalities maintain their own fire departments, although these departments often are staffed with volunteer fire personnel. A previous post examined counties’ authority to fund their fire and rescue services. This post surveys funding options for the provision of these services in municipalities. Read more »

Repealing a City Charter

Pop quiz time: The General Assembly can unincorporate a city in North Carolina by local act, with or without a vote of the citizens of the city. True or False? The answer is “true.” Faculty members here at the School of Government occasionally get questions from residents, and even from city officials, about how their city can be discontinued.  They express concerns about limited resources and capacity to provide city services, and a lack of citizen interest in city government, including sometimes, a lack of candidates willing to file for local office. What can be done? Read more »

Normal Pattern: Census, Redistricting, Lawsuits

UPDATE February 2017:  Six years after the posting of the discussion below and just three years before the next 10-year census, several lawsuits challenging the redistricting of North Carolina’s legislative and Congressional districts remain in active litigation.  The pattern has held.

Here’s the first step:  every ten years the U.S. Census Bureau counts everybody it can find and reports the numbers to the states.

Here’s the second step:  the North Carolina General Assembly draws new district lines for the state House of Representatives, the state Senate, and the U.S. House of Representatives.

And here is the inevitable, unavoidable, written-in-stone, hell-or-high-water third step:  somebody (or a bunch of people or the federal government) puts up legal challenge to the new districting plan and much of the new decade is taken up with reviewing it (and redrawing it, time and again). Read more »

When is a Deadline Not Really a Deadline? When the PTC Gets Involved.

One of the legal world’s most well known principles is, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”  In light of two recent decisions by the state Property Tax Commission, this centuries-old maxim may need to be amended to read, “unless property taxes are involved.”

The Property Tax Commission (“PTC”) is the state board that hears property tax assessment appeals by taxpayers from decisions by county boards of equalization and review.  Earlier this week the PTC released two decisions that approved retroactive requests for tax exemptions based solely on the taxpayers’ alleged ignorance of the exemption application process.  Concern over long-established legal principles aside, the real problem with these PTC decisions is that they do grave damage to the ability of local governments to finalize their tax bases. Read more »

Signed, Sealed, Delivered: When Sealed Bids Are Required

Your school system is bidding out a $1.2 million school construction project. Because the total cost of the project will exceed the formal bidding threshold for construction and repair ($500,000), you’ve advertised for formal bids. The bids are due tomorrow at 2 p.m. Right before you leave the office for the day, your phone rings. It’s an out-of-state contractor with a great reputation, who tells you that she’s just realized that there is a serious mistake in the bid you received from her earlier in the day. She wants to know if she can email her corrected bid form to you, because she can’t get a paper bid to you in time for tomorrow’s deadline. Can you accept the bid by email? Read more »