THIS BLOG POST HAS BEEN UPDATED ON APRIL 24, 2020. When employers make payments to employees under the new emergency paid leave provisions of legislation enacted to address the COVID-19 crisis, they will not take out deductions for social security, … Read more

In response to the escalating COVID-19 crisis, Governor Roy Cooper issued Executive Order 121 imposing a series of statewide restrictions, prohibitions, and directives referred to as a Stay-at-Home Order (“EO121” or “the Order”).  The Order goes into effect on Monday, … Read more

Local tax officials from across the state continue raise important questions about the pandemic.  I don’t have perfect answers to all of those questions, but I’ll do my best to respond to many of them in today’s post.  Please also … Read more

The COVID-19 public health crisis is giving rise to an unprecedented economic crisis. Economic activity across the nation has slowed considerably, and many small businesses—which were operating successfully only one month ago—are now struggling to survive. As their bills pile … Read more

[Update 11/18/2020: Section 5.2(a) of the Governor’s Executive Order 169 (extended by Executive Order 176) generally exempts “government operations” from the order’s prohibitions on mass gatherings.  The NC Department of Public Safety interprets “government operations” to include local government board meetings. Section … Read more

UPDATE (May 13, 2020): On May 4, changes to North Carolina’s communicable disease confidentiality law went into effect, including important modifications to the parts of the law that permit information to be released to law enforcement officials. Please see this … Read more

UPDATED August 3, 2022 Quasi-judicial evidentiary hearings are subject to formal procedural limits. Such hearings must adhere to the core elements of a fair trial and protect the due process rights of the parties. These issues heighten the concerns (and … Read more

Even in ordinary times, and especially during times of emergency, no single organization has all the power, resources, or authority required to solve a public problem. Right now, local governments are hard at work developing community-specific responses in keeping with … Read more

As state and local government officials across the country struggle to respond to the rapidly escalating coronavirus pandemic, some are exploring the need for increasingly stringent measures, including what are being referred to as “stay-at-home” restrictions (I’ll address the important … Read more

When a local government is functioning normally, there are a number of statutory and regulatory duties that it’s finance office must carry out. Further, there are numerous internal control processes and practices that local finance professionals follow in order to … Read more