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43 UPON MOTION of Commissioner Payne, seconded by Commissioner Cook and unanimously carried, the Board approved the following resolution pertaining to the railroad lawsuit as adopted by the North Carolina County Attorneys' Association. A RESOLUTION URGING THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE NOT TO ADMIT CERTAIN INFORMATION REQUESTED BY PLAINTIFFS IN THE RAILROAD'S 1981 TAX YEAR LAWSUIT WHEREAS, the major railroads in the State filed suit in federal district court on February 5, 1982, requesting the defendants, the Secretary of Revenue and the Director of the Ad Valorem Tax Division, to admit that the levels of assessment of real property in counties are not in excess of the values agreed to in the railroads 1980 tax year lawsuit; and WHEREAS, the Attorney General's office is representing the State defendants; and WHEREAS, the Attorney General's office is seriously considering the matter of admissions because of its belief that failure to so admit might potentially sUbject the State to bear the plaintiff's expense in performing another sales ratio study, if the court finds that defendants were acting arbitrarily and without good reason in denying plaintiff's request for admissions; and WHEREAS, the County Attorneys' Association believes that there are substantial reasons for defendant to deny plaintiff's requests, including the fact that the majority of counties in the 1980 case did not have a real opportunity to conduct their own commercial and industrial real property sales ratio studies because of severe time constraints and the fact that county tax officials were heavily involved at a pressing point in the annual property tax administration cycle in preparing tax lists; and WHEREAS, most of the counties that were able to conduct commercial and industrial studies were able to get the railroads to agree to increase their sales ratio to a much higher level than originally alleged by the railroads, thus evidencing the inaccuracy of the railroads own sales ratio studies; and WHEREAS, the effect of the federal trial court's decision in the 1980 railroad case is to place an even more heightened (and - we think - disproportionate) significance on the sales ratio study as the method for determining the plaintiff's measure of relief, and therefore plaintiffs should be required to substantiate the validity of their study's methodology; and WHEREAS, the federal court should delay any further proceedings in the 1981 lawsuit until the 1980 railroad case is finally determined by the U.S. Fourth Circuit of Appeals; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the North Carolina County Attorneys' Association respectfully urges Attorney General Rufus Edmisten to instruct his staff not to admit the information requested by plaintiff railroads wherein it is requested that defendants agree that the levels of assessment in the counties are not in excess of the values agreed to in the 1980 case. FURTHER, BE IT RESOLVED that the Attorney General's office is urged to make every effort to request that the federal trial court delay any further action in the 1981 tax year case until the outcome of the appeal is determined in the 1980 tax year railroad case Adopted this the Thirteenth Day of February, 1982 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina'County Attorneys' Association /s/ Bill Mayo Bill Mayo, President Beaufort County Attorney /s/ Robert W. Yelton Bob Yelton, First Vice President Cleveland County Attorney