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ORTH CAROLINA ASSOCIATION OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS , ~MORANDUM TO: Board Chairmen and County Managers (cc: County Attorneys and Tax Supervisors) FROM: Bill Mayo, Beaufort Co~ty Attorney and President, North Carolina County Attorneys' Association DATE: Tuesday, February 16, 1982 SUBJECT: Railroad Lawsuit Update; Request for Additional Contributions As you are well aware, the major railroads in North Carolina brought a lawsuit in Federal District Court challenging the level of taxation of their property in 1980 in relation to other property in 87 named counties. The N.C. County Attorneys' Association, during its conference in July, 1981, thoroughly reviewed developments in the case at that time. It noted that the'lawsuit was brought only against state level defendents, the Secretary of Revenue and the Director of the Ad Valorem Tax Division. The county'attorneys observed with concern that no counties were directly involved in the suit but that the counties stood to lose a portion of their tax revenues if the raiTroads succeeded, the loss on a statewide basis might be substantial, and - of perhaps over- riding importance - the outcome of the lawsuit might have implications for other utilities or for commercial and industrial property taxpayers considering similar challenges. Thus, the County Attorneys' Association proposed that all 100 counties contribute to a collective lega! defense fund to assure that the counties' perspective would be given considera- tion by the court. The purposes of this memo are to update you on the 1980 railroad lawsuit, to provide a financial accounting of the funds raised to establish the collective tegal defense effort, to request an additional contribution from your county to help pay the legal expenses for the appeal of the case to the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and to solicit your support in requesting that Governor Hunt, Attorney General E~nlisten, and Secretary of Revenue Lynch use their offices to provide greater financial and manpower assistance to the counties in defending the property tax against lawsuits brought by the railroads and other utilities. First, here is an update on the 1980 railroad lawsuit. As you know, the collective fund was established and the Charlotte law firm of Ruff, Bond, Cobb, Wade and McNair was "retained" to present the legal issues of common concern to th~ counties. Hamlin Wade has been the principal attorney handling the matter. The law firm also represents Mecklenburg County for its county business, and that county - along with Madison - directly intervened in the sUit. , ~_~ ALSERT COATES LOCAL GOVERNMENT CENTE~ -~-~~~'~~ 215 N, DAWSON S~ ~ ~ ~ BO~ ~ 488 · RALEIGH, NOSTH CAF~OLINA 27602 m TELE~ONE 9 ! 9/832,2893 I