Statement of Taxes Due

When I decided to blog about the “statement of taxes due” required by G.S. 105-361, I assumed that tax offices were issuing them all of the time. My thought was that every closing attorney requested one of these binding documents for every real estate closing.  I was wrong.  (Perhaps not as wrong as I was about how good the Duke football team would be this season, but still pretty wrong.)

Some counties do receive lots of requests for these statements.  Brunswick and Union counties issue several hundred a month.  But other counties report that requests for G.S. 105-361 statements are pretty rare. Carteret County gets only a few requests a month.  Mecklenburg County reports they normally receive only 10 or 15 requests a year (although that has increased since the kerfluffle over their 2011 reappraisal).  Bertie County said that only a single attorney has requested these statements in the past 15 years!  It seems that many closing attorneys rely on county tax websites or informal telephone calls to tax offices to determine if there are any outstanding taxes owed on property being sold.

Regardless of whether your county routinely or rarely issues G.S. 105-361 statements, they remain a sensitive issue because they are one of the very few types of documents that are binding upon the tax collector.  If the tax collector fails to include a tax or special assessment in a statement and a buyer or lender relies on that incorrect statement, the lien for those taxes or special assessments is waived and may never be enforced against the property.  (See this post for a discussion of the other types of mistakes that can bind the tax office.)

Here’s what you need to know about statements of taxes due issued under G.S. 105-361. Read more »

Municipalities (and Counties) Not Authorized to Charge Certain Impact (aka Capacity, System Development) Fees

UPDATE 4 August 2018: Overruling the court of appeals, the North Carolina Supreme Court held that the Town of Carthage’s liability to refund the unlawful impact fee revenue was subject to a 3-year statute of limitations. See Quality Built Homes Inc. v. Town of Carthage, No. 315PA15-2 (May 11, 2018). 

UPDATE 3 September 2017: The legislature enacted a comprehensive system development fee law granting local government utilities specific authority to charge certain upfront fees for water and sewer services. For more information, click here.

UPDATE 2  January 2017: The North Carolina Court of Appeals held that the Town of Carthage’s liability to refund the unlawful impact fee revenue was subject to a ten-year statute of limitations. See Quality Built Homes, Inc. v. Town of Carthage, COA15-115-2 (Dec. 30, 2016).

UPDATE 1 December 2016: For more prospective guidance on calculating and assessing upfront charges for water and sewer utilities click here.

The North Carolina Supreme Court recently invalidated water and sewer impact fees assessed on new development by the Town of Carthage, holding that a municipality lacks the authority under general law to assess such fees. See Quality Built Homes Inc. v. Town of Carthage, No. 315PA15, ___ N.C. ____ (Aug. 19, 2016). The case could have significant revenue implications for other municipalities and counties who currently assess similar fees. (Local units sometimes refer to these fees by other names, including capacity fees and system development fees) This post summarizes the court’s opinion and provides guidance to municipalities and counties as to the types of water and sewer fees that are now prohibited and those that are still allowed. It then briefly discusses the potential liability of a municipality or county that has assessed an unauthorized fee. A future post will apply the new water and sewer fee framework to common scenarios involving both new and existing development.

Note that this post only addresses municipal and, by analogy, county fee authority. A previous post analyzed a water and sewer district’s authority (and, by analogy, a water and sewer authority’s, metropolitan water district’s, metropolitan sewer district’s metropolitan water and sewerage district’s authority) to assess impact fees for water and sewer services. Read more »

Unaffiliated Voters and Elections Administration in North Carolina

Update January 2017:  The elections administration system described in this blog post was modified by legislation enacted in December 2016.  That legislation modified the number of members of the state and county boards of elections, but it continued the limitation of membership to Republicans and Democrats.  The implementation of that legislation has been enjoined while litigation challenging its constitutionality is in progress.  The system described in this blog post remains in place.

North Carolina’s two major political parties—the Democrats and the Republicans, of course—are deeply involved not only in the politics of the state but also in the state’s administration of elections.  One big group of the state’s registered voters, however—the unaffiliated voters—play no role in the conduct of elections.  Not so long ago there were very few of them.  Now they are about to be the second largest group of voters, catching up to Republicans and moving in the direction of the Democratic total.  Yet the Democrats and Republicans remain in control of the elections apparatus. Read more »

Discounts 101

September 1 is just a few days away, which means the end of discounts for 2016 taxes is also just a few days away.  Seems like a perfect time to cover the basics of one of the Machinery Act’s most taxpayer-friendly provisions.  Read more »

UPDATED: Limitations on the Authority and Role of Adult Protective Services Programs

Yesterday, August 21, was National Senior Citizens Day. When President Reagan issued the proclamation first recognizing this day, he explained:

For all they have achieved throughout life and for all they continue to accomplish, we owe older citizens our thanks and a heartfelt salute. We can best demonstrate our gratitude and esteem by making sure that our communities are good places in which to mature and grow older – places in which older people can participate to the fullest and can find the encouragement, acceptance, assistance, and services they need to continue to lead lives of independence and dignity.

This sends a powerful message and it is one that I think about often. As I’ve been working with the adult protective services program for the past few years, one of the issues I have struggled with is the balance between providing protection and preserving “independence and dignity” of older adults and disabled adults. Once a county department of social services (DSS) receives a report of alleged abuse, neglect, or exploitation of an adult, it will take action quickly to screen the report and, if appropriate, conduct an evaluation. In some situations, DSS will not intervene to provide protective services to the adult who is the subject of the report. This post explores some of these circumstances and will discuss the reasons why DSS may not have the authority to provide protective services. Also, at the end of the post I’ve included details about some free training resources related to financial exploitation.

Read more »

Board Majorities Attending External Events or Meetings: When is Notice Required?

Three (of five) board members walk into a bar…. Sounds like the beginning of a joke, right? In fact it’s the beginning of a frequently asked legal question. Stated more broadly the question is whether the mere presence of a majority of a public body in the same place at the same time always constitutes an official meeting, triggering the public notice and access requirements under the state Open Meetings Law (OML). The easy answer is “no,” it doesn’t always trigger the law, but sometimes it might. As I noted in my blog post here, if members of a public body are not transacting public business, there is no need to provide notice. That’s the easy answer. But what if it’s a political event or a setting that relates to public business and a majority shows up? When is a majority of the board considered to be “gathered” or “assembled” in a meeting within the meaning of the OML? Public agencies often give notice any time there is a possibility that a majority will be at the same place at the same time. This blog examines when such notice is necessary and when it’s not. Read more »

Government Property and Property Taxes

Property owned by a government—local, state, or federal—is exempt from property taxes in North Carolina.  That’s one of the most simple, straightforward provisions in the entire Machinery Act. (You can find it in G.S. 105-278.1).  So why do we need to spend an entire blog post talking about government property? Because the topic isn’t as simple as it appears at first glance.  Here are a few of the more common—and complex—tax questions that arise when a government purchases property in North Carolina. Read more »