As I detailed in a previous post, among the funding options available to local units for capital projects are special assessments. Special assessments are charges levied on a subset of real properties located within a county or municipality to fund … Read more

It is May 2015 and several of Procrastination Village’s staff members are frantically ordering supplies and equipment to spend down remaining budget appropriations by the end of the 2014-15 fiscal year. As of May 1, the parks and recreation department … Read more

The General Assembly expanded the categories of allowable expenditures for a county’s solid waste fee proceeds in the 2014 technical corrections act, S.L. 2014-115 (HB 1133). Specifically, section 60 added a new provision to G.S. 153A-292 (section b1) that states … Read more

Coates’ Canons celebrated its five year anniversary this week! During the past five years, School of Government faculty members have authored over 680 posts, which have been viewed well over 1,000,000 times. We continually strive to improve the blog and … Read more

An impact fee is a charge on new development to pay for the construction or expansion of off-site capital improvements that are necessitated by and/or benefit the new development. A local government typically assesses impact fees as part of its … Read more

The United States Constitution includes many provisions that protect persons and entities from government action. For example, the Due Process Clause (Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments) safeguards against arbitrary denial of life, liberty, or property by the government. The Equal Protection … Read more

Each North Carolina local government and public authority (local unit) must adopt an annual balanced budget ordinance. G.S. 159-8. The Local Government Budget and Fiscal Control Act, G.S. Ch. 159, Art. 3 (LGBFCA), provides a basic framework for the preparation and … Read more

The majority of funding for North Carolina’s public schools comes from the State. Each county, however, is required to annually fund most capital expenses and at least some operating expenses of its local school administrative unit(s). Questions often arise as … Read more

G.S. 159-28 is often referred to as the “preaudit statute,” but it actually prescribes two distinct legal processes—the preaudit process and the disbursement process. The statute envisions that most local government expenditures will be subject to both processes. As discussed … Read more

Having turned the corner on the Great Recession, the Town of FingersCrossing recently hired a few new employees. The finance office begins to process the first payroll since the new employees began working for the town. It is also the … Read more