BC 2011 02 07 Work Session - Laserfiche WebLink

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February 7, 2011 (Work Session) Page 305 UPON MOTION of Vice Chairman Poole, seconded by Commissioner Burrage and unanimously carried, the Board voted to place approval of Grant for Permanent Greenway and Sanitary Sewer Easements for PIN #'s 5620 -21 -1889 and 5620 -22 -9833 on the February 21, 2011 Agenda as a Consent item. BOC - Development of 2011 Legislative Goals John Day, County Manager, reported a number of legislative items were submitted at the Board's Retreat (Jan. 28 -29, 2011), but not discussed due to time constraints. In addition, he reported the Mt. Pleasant Town Administrator submitted a request to change the NC Rural Center's criteria to match the USDA Rural Development's criteria (specifically, remove the prohibition against aid to municipalities in Tier 3 counties) for grant purposes. Finally, he advised the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) adopted its legislative goals for 2011 -2012, and noted that Commissioner Measmer is the Board's representative on that topic. The items from the retreat are as follows: • Amend NCGS 14 -399 to allow regulation of delivery of unsolicited telephone books. • Reinstate sales tax exemption for public schools. • Payment in lieu of taxes. • Address unfunded mandates. • End local government incentives. At the request of Chairman White, Richard Koch, County Attorney, reviewed NCGS 14- 399.1, the anti - litter statute, and advised the regulation of delivery of unsolicited telephone books would depend on the definition of litter and if the phone book category would fit within the exceptions contained in the statute. A lengthy discussion ensued. The following issues were addressed: telephone books; reinstating the sales tax exemption for public schools; payment in lieu of taxes for nonprofits; school classroom sizes; possible unfunded mandates from the State for jails (inmates may stay longer), schools (classroom sizes may increase), etc.; according to the Legislature, counties have the ability to raise property taxes to pay for State mandates; etc. After further discussion, Chairman White suggested any unfunded State or Federal mandates that require additional expense to the County, be identified by staff, voted on by the Board and disclosed to the public. Mr. Day suggested the financial impact and corresponding affect on the tax rate be requested for each new bill for all counties and published in every newspaper across the State to help make a point that is consistent with the perceptions in Raleigh. Further, he commented that having a menu of revenue options for all counties to choose from would be helpful and is an annual issue of the NCACC. Discussion continued. Issues addressed included: secondary road construction; using the Golden Leaf Fund (money from the tobacco trust fund settlement) to balance the State budget; local government incentives; etc. John Cox, with the Cabarrus Regional Chamber of Commerce, also participated in the discussion. Following discussion, the Board agreed on the following items: • Amend NCGS 14 -399 to allow regulation of delivery of unsolicited telephone books. • Reinstate sales tax exemption for public schools. • Study the impact to local government finances of exempting nonprofits from the requirement of paying property taxes and review possible payment in lieu of taxes requirements. • Address unfunded mandates (DSS, Schools, Jail, etc.) by providing additional funding, or additional funding sources. • Review the use of local government incentives in business recruitment, in particular, the practice of local governments bidding against each other for projects. • Change NC Rural Center's grant /loan award criteria to more closely match the USDA Rural Development aid requirements (specifically, remove the prohibition against aid to municipalities in Tier 3 counties).