If property is under construction, is it being “used” by its owner? That is the arcane but important question that the North Carolina Court of Appeals recently addressed in the Highwater Solar appeal concerning the 80% property tax exclusion available … Read more

The national trend towards consolidation of the healthcare industry under large providers is very evident across our state. Be it the purchase of western Carolina’s largest non-profit hospital system by an even larger healthcare provider or the continued expansion of … Read more

In July Chris McLaughlin and I hosted a webinar on the topic of STR regulation and occupancy taxes (available here). We have also written a manual for local governments on these topics, which we hope will be available to readers … Read more

[UPDATE 2/2020: Adopting reasoning similar to mine below, in March 2019 the Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board rejected the 2018 ethics report and recommendation and concluded that Baldwin violated the attorney-client privilege held by the three Penn State executives. The Disciplinary Board … Read more

Three times in the past five years North Carolina appellate courts and administrative bodies have wrestled with the question of how to define inventory for purposes of the property tax exclusion created by G.S. 105-,275(34). In the first two cases, … Read more

Under the North Carolina public records law, government records are subject to public access unless an exception says they’re not. The law’s broad definition of “public records,” as interpreted by the courts, covers any record, regardless of format, made or … Read more

Social media has become a regular feature of the political landscape. From the campaign to the business of governing, elected and appointed public officials are getting their message out on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. And they’re encouraging … Read more

The candidate who appeared to win the election in North Carolina’s Ninth Congressional district has not been officially declared the winner.  He has not taken his seat in Congress.  And the state elections board that might declare him the winner has … Read more

The open meetings law mandates that public bodies keep “full and accurate” minutes of their official meetings. G.S. 143-318.10(e). Separate statutes expressly require “full and accurate” minutes for meetings of city councils and boards of county commissioners. G.S. 153A-42 (boards … Read more

The North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) returned to Raleigh last week to kick off the 2019-2020 biennium. Here at the School of Government, we are excited to announce that all of the legislative digests prepared by the staff at our … Read more