Through S.L. 2015-136, “An Act to Make Various Changes to the Juvenile Laws Pertaining to Abuse, Neglect, and Dependency,” the General Assembly enacted G.S. 7B-505.1 and G.S. 7B-903.1(e).These two new statutes address medical decision-making authority for a child who is … Read more

In addition to local funding sources, municipalities receive some financial assistance from the State to help pay for the construction, maintenance and repair of municipal streets. The legislation that first established this distribution is known as the Powell Bill (after … Read more

Local governments obtain all sorts of information about citizens. Whether it’s for utility billing, payment of taxes, issuing permits, participation in local programs and volunteer activities, or as a result of regulatory or law enforcement activities, our personal information makes … Read more

There was a lot of buzz around sales tax reform during the past legislative session. Several different proposals were introduced, ranging from changing the allocation methods of existing local sales taxes to converting local sales taxes to state taxes. Many … Read more

On October 20, 2015, the Governor signed Session Law (S.L.) 2015-277, placing into effect several “clarifications” to the primary economic development statute used by local governments, G.S. Chapter 158, Article 1, “The Local Development Act of 1925.” The modifications fall … Read more

It is an understatement to say that this year’s session of the General Assembly produced legislation of interest to local governments.  Some of that legislation has been discussed by my colleagues elsewhere on Coates’ Canons.  (See, for example, here, here, … Read more

After posts on the new builders’ inventory exclusion (here and here) and on new rules for the waiver of interest on old motor vehicle taxes, one final new property tax law deserves its own blog post.  S.L. 2015-266 creates new … Read more

In the state budget bill, S.L. 2015-241, the legislature made a few changes to municipal service district (MSD) authority. An MSD is a defined area within a municipality in which the unit’s governing board levies an additional property tax in … Read more

[Update: The North Carolina Supreme Court reversed this decision in Asheville v. State. Read about the Supreme Court decision in a blog post here.] In 2013 the North Carolina General Assembly enacted a law (S.L. 2013-50) that requires the city of … Read more

…exclusion for improvements to residential and commercial real property (S.L. 2015-223). I’ve already blogged and published a bulletin about the law, now nicknamed the “builders’ inventory exclusion.” After hearing many…