It’s almost budget time again for local governments across North Carolina, and tax collectors need to be involved.  Collectors have the responsibility of estimating the property tax collection rate for the current fiscal year (2013-2014), which is the maximum collection rate … Read more

Peaceful Town is famous for being a quiet place to live.  The town has earned this reputation through strict enforcement of its noise ordinance, which bans the use of electronic devices to project sound that is plainly audible at a … Read more

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, a government employee is entitled to overtime pay after working 40 hours in a week, unless an exemption applies. If an exemption applies, the employee is said to be “exempt” and is not entitled … Read more

The storm is coming and there’s a town council meeting scheduled for tonight. Not only that, the town is scheduled to have a public hearing on an economic development project as part of that meeting. What are the procedures for … Read more

Local elected officials come from all walks of life.  Farmers, teachers, architects, car dealers, insurance agents, realtors . . . you name the occupation and it’s a sure bet someone with that experience is serving on a city council or … Read more

So the county granted initial approval for a large residential subdivision.  Now, after completing some (but not all) of the roads and infrastructure, the developer wants final plat approval so she can close on the first round of lot sales.  … Read more

My last post discussed the new design-build construction method authorized by the General Assembly during the 2013 Session.  S.L. 2013-401/H857 created not only a design-build construction contracting process, but also a construction contracting process called design-build bridging.  Enacted as G.S. … Read more

The closed session meeting was contentious. Three of the five board members were ready to fire the manager. They were going off the board and were anxious to push for a vote on the dismissal before the election in November. … Read more