In the last few months of 2009, the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued two interesting opinions on property tax situs.  A fancy word for “location,” situs controls whether or not property is subject to tax in a particular jurisdiction.  The two appellate decisions are worth noting both for the law and for the property involved: one case concerned a $35 million jet airplane, the other $25 million worth of carnival rides and games.  Taken together, the two cases demonstrate  that property can have tax situs here in North Carolina even if it spends most of the year—and maybe even all of th

Local government officials often ask me two questions related to their property tax authority—(1) whether a unit may impose property taxes only for specific, designated purposes; and (2) whether a unit may impose property taxes only on specific properties within … Read more

UPDATE August 2013: Note that if a local unit’s governing board adopts multiple tax rates to support its general fund activities, the board is not legally bound by those designations.

UPDATE August 2013: Note that if a local unit’s governing board adopts multiple tax rates to support its general fund activities, the board is not legally bound by those designations.

Local tax officials should add to their reading lists the latest chapter in what may be the state’s longest-running property tax saga.  Last month the N.C. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of IBM Credit Corporation in its dispute with … Read more

Local tax officials should add to their reading lists the latest chapter in what may be the state’s longest-running property tax saga.  Last month the N.C.

Local tax officials should add to their reading lists the latest chapter in what may be the state’s longest-running property tax saga.  Last month the N.C.

In a post describing the recently enacted legislation that (potentially) authorizes North Carolina local governments to establish revolving loan funds or impose special assessments in order to finance energy efficiency improvements and distributed generation renewable energy sources permanently affixed to private property, I indicated that one (of many) complicating factors is determining whether or not such “energy financing” programs satisfy the public purpose clause of the North Carolina Constitution.

In a post describing the recently enacted legislation that (potentially) authorizes North Carolina local governments to establish revolving loan funds or impose special assessments in order to finance energy efficiency improvements and distributed generation renewable energy sources permanently affixed to private property, I indicated that one (of many) complicating factors is determining whether or not such “energy financing” programs satisfy the public purpose clause of the North Carolina Constitution.

The governing board of a small town believes that it would be advantageous to hire the mayor as a part-time town administrator. Is this legal? In some cases, it is. There are two main legal prohibitions that would generally bar … Read more
The post Board Members as Employees appeared first on Coates’ Canons NC Local Government Law.