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Project Santa Recap
We hope it’s no secret how much our firm appreciates our friends across this great state. Thanks to you, Project Santa at Sanford Holshouser brought plenty of cheer to our Carrboro office. We sent out a request for ornaments that represented your neck of the woods in...
Happy New Year! Annual reminders for debt planning and management
Happy New Year! As 2020 begins, we offer this list of items to keep in mind as you plan for new capital projects and manage your existing projects. Here are a few things to think about at least once a year: Compliance with financing covenants. If you have any...
An updated version of the “45-day” Joint Committee letter form
In a previous post, we discussed the requirement for local governments to send a notice of a proposed borrowing to the “Legislative Joint Committee on Local Government.” This notice is to go to the Committee at least 45 days before consideration of a borrowing by the...
The 2020 LGC Calendar
We now have the official 2020 calendar for meetings of the Local Government Commission. We thought a table might be handy. In addition to the meeting dates, this table shows the dates 28 days prior to the meeting, because, generally, the Commission staff wants a...
New schedule moves up deadlines for Spring 2020 local tax and bond referenda
If you’ve been thinking about having a referendum for bonds or sales tax in your community, you should know that the calendar for Spring 2020 will be different than it has been in prior years. In 2020, North...
Alternatives for Municipal Financing for Community Dams
There are over 3200 dams in North Carolina, and many of these are owned and maintained by smaller entities that may not have the resources to take care of the dams the way they need to be taken care of. And so after time, an inspection may show that the dam needs...
Addressing the crisis in the finance function (or at least starting to)
We wrote previously about problems affecting the staffing and operation of local government finance departments across North Carolina. The LGC and its staff have grown increasingly frustrated with local governments that can’t keep their books and records in good order...
Issuers Still Don’t Save Money with Green Bonds
We’ve written before about the phenomenon of “Green Bonds,” the idea of borrowing money for environmentally beneficial projects and attaching the “green” label. The idea is that environmentally conscious investors would be willing to pay a little extra for bonds,...
Local counsel’s role in a local government financing
Every local government financing can benefit from the active participation of the city, county or town attorney. Sometimes the attorneys, however, don’t know how best to carry out their role. Here are our notes about how you, as a local government attorney, can...
Using Non-Profits to Spark Arts-Driven Community Economic Development
Arts and cultural community organizations are popping up in hometowns all across North Carolina. These organizations can stimulate economic development and community involvement while providing arts and cultural experiences for residents of all ages. Arts centers are...