It is common practice for North Carolina local government utilities to require an applicant for utility service to furnish government-issued photo identification. Officials cite the need to protect the integrity of utility operations as justification for the requirement, arguing that … Read more

The in rem property tax foreclosure process under G.S. 105-375 has recently come under criticism from some title insurance companies and attorneys. They raise two related arguments against using in rem.  First, they argue that courts are quick to overturn … Read more

Few things cause more headaches for property tax offices than heir property.  When a taxpayer dies owning real property, listing, exemption eligibility, billing, and enforced collection questions suddenly become very difficult to resolve. The traditional approach to resolving these questions … Read more

If a person is considering undertaking a particular land use, it is important that they know whether or not that would be allowed by the zoning ordinance. It is usually a simple proposition to determine whether or not the use … Read more

The Upsette City Council adopted a controversial ordinance limiting the number of dogs and cats per residence.  Three of the council’s five members lost their seats at the next election to opponents who campaigned on pledges to repeal the pet … Read more

A municipality currently is authorized under general law to levy up to a $5.00 licensing tax on any motor vehicle resident in the municipality (motor vehicle license tax). See G.S. 20-97(b). A municipality’s governing board may levy the tax in … Read more

Quick poll question:  does your local government annually write off all property taxes that are more than 10 years old? (I bet everyone reading this post just nodded yes.)  Okay, second poll question: where in the Machinery Act are local … Read more

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…

In the waning days of the 2015 legislative session, the General Assembly enacted legislation that once again changes the E-Verify contracting prohibition for state and local government contracts. In some respects HB318 (Protect North Carolina Workers Act) limits the prohibition; in … Read more

UPDATE July 2024: The legislature made further changes to this authority, as discussed here. The governing boards of several government-owned or operated water and sewer utilities currently have the authority to mandate connection of certain properties to their water systems. … Read more

The Machinery Act rarely gives local governments much discretion. Most often our property tax statutes proscribe exactly what should happen in a given situation. There are a few tax collection situations in which local governments have flexibility, however.  Consider the unfettered … Read more