When you have a project that needs approval from the Local Government Commission, not everything you need to know about the process is written down in one place (or in many cases, written down at all). Bond lawyers and financial advisers will help you navigate, but it...

The State Auditor’s investigative reports on local governments sometimes document really bad, and even criminal, behavior by local government officials. In other cases, the findings are more about sloppiness, although sloppiness that gets bad enough can have criminal...

It’s not unusual to find a local government that has trouble spending the money it borrows for a project, or that has money left over when the project is done. We’ve written before, for example, about what you can do with proceeds left over on an installment...

An apartment developer approached the City of Waynesville for some extra support on a project that the City had already fully entitled for construction. With the run up in construction prices, the developer asked the City to participate in an arrangement under Section...

As we get to the start of 2024, 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: Review compliance with your financing covenants. If you have...

In 2018 the City of Rockingham spearheaded an effort to redevelop underused private property into a new downtown campus for Richmond Community College. The City saw that this project would revitalize the parcel, bring more people to the downtown both day and night and...

We’ve written earlier (here and here) about legislation entitled “bond referendum transparency” that was working its way through the General Assembly this past session. Although Senate Bill 99 did not pass, key components of the legislation – regarding changes to the...

We’ve previously written about using synthetic tax increment financing (synthetic TIF) to fund economic development, and more precisely to determine if your public investment will have an economic return through an increase in property taxes or other private sector...

It is a truth universally observed that adding road capacity does not, after a dreadfully short transition period, reduce traffic congestion. In its simplest terms, the idea of induced demand is that an increase in the supply of a free good (in this case, un-tolled...

The Town of Carrboro is collaborating with Orange County on the development of the “203 Project,” which will be a 3-story building in downtown Carrboro that will host a County branch library and a variety Town offices. The project also includes a parking deck with 170...