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...

Happy New Year! As 2017 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: Local legislation. The General Assembly convenes January 11....

Under both North Carolina law and the relevant federal tax rules, you can generally use borrowed money only to pay for “capital costs” of a project. What’s a capital cost? The primary rule I quote to clients, which comes out of the tax regulations, is that a cost is a...

Many North Carolina local governments wrestle with how to fund those valued local nonprofits that are effectively doing good work in the community. There are a variety of approaches for annually funding operating expenses, but occasionally the question arises of how...

We now have the official calendar for meetings of the Local Government Commission for 2017. We thought a table might be handy. Along with the meeting dates, this table shows the dates 28 days prior to the meeting, because generally the Commission staff wants a fairly...

In Part One of this series, we described factors, benefits and issues that have led to the growing debate over the extent to which a municipality should be able to become an Internet Service Provider (ISP). Wilson, North Carolina, has been a flashpoint in the conflict...

Most affected communities are aware by now of case Quality Built Homes v. Town of Carthage, in which the North Carolina Supreme Court generally found that cities, counties, and towns do not have broad legal authority to charge up-front water and sewer fees to...

This case study is based on North Carolina law. Terms and procedures will vary state to state, but the concepts are generally true throughout the country. Background: The new finance officer and newly-elected mayor are meeting with bond counsel to discuss financing...

Most folks want to do what’s best for the environment (whatever they think that might be), and many companies and local governments want to be known for doing good things for the environment.  To tap into those environmental sensibilities, we have seen the emergence...

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 repair or replacement. Then, if the affected community doesn’t have (and can’t get) the legal structure or financial resources to rebuild, that community may come to the public entity for help.