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The LGC calendar for 2025
We now have a schedule for the 2025 meetings of the Local Government Commission. We thought a table might be handy. In addition to the meeting dates, this table shows the application due dates. We’ve also noted the dates 45 days prior to the meeting dates...
Financial oversight by elected officials
Usually people run for county or municipal office because of their interest in government activities or programs – they want to advocate for schools, or parks, or affordable housing. Some have a general sense of wanting to give back or be involved in what’s going on...
Borrowing in anticipation of FEMA reimbursement
North Carolina local governments are all too familiar with FEMA’s role in reimbursing local government costs of natural disaster remediation. We know that FEMA is good for the reimbursement payments (so long as you follow their rules), but it can take years to receive...
Tackling Downtown Parking – Lessons from Knoxville
The role of parking as it relates to a growing downtown has always been a topic of debate, regardless of the community you call home. We’ve written about the dangers of using valuable land for surface parking in the past but have also acknowledged that parking is...
Thinking about the 59-month rule
There’s a provision in the statutes that says many financing arrangements with a term of less than five years don’t need LGC approval. This provision has been in the law since well before installment financing under Section 160A-20 was approved by the State Supreme...
Your management contracts may now need LGC approval
One often wonders what problems an unexpected piece of legislation is designed to address – especially when something as broad as the new 159-154 (found in Section 5(a) of Session Law 2023-138) sweeps into town. This legislation now requires Local Government...
One of our favorite projects – streamline administration of water and sewer districts
Counties have established water and sewer districts to facilitate water and sewer service to discrete areas. Many counties have several of these districts. Over time, it has become a challenging process to administer the separate districts, especially when some...
What a preaudit certification does – and does not – mean
We have occasion to discuss from time to time the meaning of a preaudit certification by a finance officer, especially in terms of construction contracts that will be funded at least in part by borrowed money. A preaudit certificate imposes potential liability on a...
One of our favorite projects – Washington County preK-12 School
Washington County is constructing a new preK-12 school that will consolidate substantially all the County’s public schools to one location. We worked for the County as bond counsel in connection with its $19.8 million local financing for the project. The project had a...
One of our favorite projects – Jackson County loan for Summit Charter School
Our client Jackson County recently made a $2,500,000 loan to Summit Charter School to help finance the construction of a new high school facility in the southern part of the County. The County made this loan pursuant to legislation enacted near the end of the 2023...