We had an inquiry about setting out the very basics of how a local government can borrow money in North Carolina. This could be shared with governing board members or staff that might be new to local government. Here’s what we came up with. We hope that...

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! 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...

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...

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...

          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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...