Your local government, a mid-sized city in North Carolina, owns 50 laptops that are in working condition but are no longer being used.  Each laptop is worth about $600.  As the Purchasing Manager, you’ve been asked to figure out how to get rid of these laptops.  While you’re trying to decide how to get rid of the laptops, a City Council member calls to ask you whether she can buy one of the laptops (she heard about them from the City Manager).  Apparently, the City Manager has told several city employees about the laptops, too, because one of your friends in the planning department calls to

Your local government, a mid-sized city in North Carolina, owns 50 laptops that are in working condition but are no longer being used.  Each laptop is worth about $600.  As the Purchasing Manager, you’ve been asked to figure out how to get rid of these laptops.  While you’re trying to decide how to get rid of the laptops, a City Council member calls to ask you whether she can buy one of the laptops (she heard about them from the City Manager).  Apparently, the City Manager has told several city employees about the laptops, too, because one of your friends in the planning department calls to

UPDATE August 2013: For more detailed information about special assessment authority in North Carolina, click here. Note that the General Assembly extended the sunset on the new special assessment authority to July 1, 2015. It also made a few modifications to that authority. See S.L.

UPDATE August 2013: For more detailed information about special assessment authority in North Carolina, click here. Note that the General Assembly extended the sunset on the new special assessment authority to July 1, 2015. It also made a few modifications to that authority. See S.L.

Your county needs to buy 5 new law enforcement vehicles costing $30,000 each, and the sheriff tells you that he prefers a specific make and model with certain options.  The sheriff also tells you that he knows that a neighboring county recently bought 10 law enforcement vehicles of the same make and model, with the same options.  You contact the dealership that sold the vehicles to the other county, and learn that the dealership sold 2008 models to the other county, but is now out of the 2008 models and only has 2009 models.  Can you use the piggybacking exception to purchase these vehicles

Your county needs to buy 5 new law enforcement vehicles costing $30,000 each, and the sheriff tells you that he prefers a specific make and model with certain options.  The sheriff also tells you that he knows that a neighboring county recently bought 10 law enforcement vehicles of the same make and model, with the same options.  You contact the dealership that sold the vehicles to the other county, and learn that the dealership sold 2008 models to the other county, but is now out of the 2008 models and only has 2009 models.  Can you use the piggybacking exception to purchase these vehicles

UPDATE August 2013: Note that the legislature recently codified the clarifications to the fact-finder’s role under G.S. 115C-431 discussed below. Click here for a summary of the new provisions. On August 28, 2009, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued Beaufort County Bd. of Educ. v. Beaufort County Bd. of Commissioners (No. 106PA08), a decision stemming from a 2006 local public school funding dispute.

UPDATE August 2013: Note that the legislature recently codified the clarifications to the fact-finder’s role under G.S. 115C-431 discussed below. Click here for a summary of the new provisions. On August 28, 2009, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued Beaufort County Bd. of Educ. v. Beaufort County Bd. of Commissioners (No. 106PA08), a decision stemming from a 2006 local public school funding dispute.

An interesting discussion from the Local Government Law listserv last week: Do tax foreclosures extinguish easements?  The answer must be no, don’t you think? If public utility and transportation easements could be extinguished by tax foreclosures, then the authority of the phone company to run telecommunication lines and the Department of Transportation to maintain highways would be dependent on the willingness of thousands of individual property owners to keep current with their property taxes.  That sounds like an unworkable system to me.

An interesting discussion from the Local Government Law listserv last week: Do tax foreclosures extinguish easements?  The answer must be no, don’t you think? If public utility and transportation easements could be extinguished by tax foreclosures, then the authority of the phone company to run telecommunication lines and the Department of Transportation to maintain highways would be dependent on the willingness of thousands of individual property owners to keep current with their property taxes.  That sounds like an unworkable system to me.