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TWEET OF THE WEEK  "Nobody has mentioned the 6% that realtors take at every sale. Does that make houses unaffordable or just the 0.4% transfer tax?" @Fitzsimon – Chris Fitzsimon, director of NC Policy Watch, during House debate of H92 (Repeal Land Transfer Tax) on March 8. On the sale of a $100,000 home, a 6 percent realtor commission would cost $6,000; a 0.4 percent land transfer tax would cost $400. HOUSE PASSES REPEAL OF LAND TRANSFER TAX What took years for counties to achieve is being taken away in a matter of weeks by the General Assembly. The House voted Tuesday to repeal the 0.4 percent land transfer tax option that was given to counties as part of the 2007 Medicaid swap. Prior to the swap, which was included in the 2007 state budget, counties had lobbied for more than a decade to achieve additional revenue options, including a land transfer tax. "Taking away the land transfer tax option from counties does not reduce taxes," said NCACC Executive Director David F. Thompson. "Instead it reduces a county's flexibility when seeking alternatives to continued property tax increases, and it takes away from citizens their ability to choose if the land transfer tax is a good fit for their community. Counties worked very hard to get the land transfer tax option, and it is not right for the state to take away counties' ability to pursue this alternative." The Association would particularly like to thank Reps. Becky Carney (Mecklenburg), Jennifer Weiss (Wake) and Paul Luebke (Durham) for speaking out in favor of keeping the option, and especially to Rep. Chuck McGrady (Henderson), who was the only Republican to vote against the repeal. Rep. McGrady is a former Henderson County commissioner. H92 has been sent to the Senate Finance Committee. FIRST THE LAND TRANSFER, NOW THE PROPERTY TAX BASE Right on the heels of House passage of the land transfer tax repeal is a growing number of bills to chip away at the property tax base. A principal goal of the Association is to preserve the local revenue base. H246 would increase the homestead exclusion income limit from $25,000 to $35,000, and would exclude the applicant's capital losses from the income computation. S216 would similarly increase the homestead exclusion's income eligibility to $35,000. Each of these bills would become effective July 1, 2011. S210 would extend the religious exemption for property taxes to any religious organization recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3). While this may appear consistent with the current religious properties exemption, the IRS may grant "tentative" approval for organizations, and take up to five years to qualify the public support test. One such 501(3)(c) organization that was designated as such turned out to be a front for a white supremacist group. S233 and H170 would expand the charitable property tax exemption to the entirety of the property, if a portion of the property qualifies and the remainder of the property is vacant. Finally, S107 would reduce the property tax owed on improved property inside roadway corridors. ANNEXATION MORATORIUM BILL PASSES SENATE The Senate on March 7 passed S27 (Involuntary Annexation Moratorium), which would put into place a temporary moratorium on involuntary annexations through July 1, 2012. It also adds a section to allow a municipality that has adopted its budget for 2010-11 to change its budget ordinance, including establishing a different tax rate, if its property tax base is reduced because of the moratorium. This could impact a municipality with an annexation scheduled to come online before the end of the current fiscal year, if that municipality had anticipated collecting additional property tax revenue in its 2010-11 budget from the newly annexed property owners. The bill also stays any pending litigation on an ongoing annexation until July 1, 2012. SENATE BILL WOULD OVERRIDE LOCAL RESTRICTIONS ON BILLBOARDS A bill that would provide more leeway for billboard sign operators by overriding community regulations regarding the location and appearance of billboards has been filed in the Senate. S183 (Selective Vegetation Removal/State Highways) would remove many restrictions on where and how many billboards can be erected and would dramatically expand the area where public trees can be cleared along roadways. The legislation is strongly opposed by the NCACC, N.C. Chapter of the American Planning Association, N.C. League of Municipalities, N.C. Metro Mayors Coalition, Preservation North Carolina and homeowners associations. In 2004, the General Assembly passed a law that requires a local government to pay the billboard owner for potential lost revenues if the local government passes an ordinance that requires existing billboards to be removed. S183 also allows many existing billboards to be converted to digital billboards, which can run multiple ads at a time and would therefore be much more costly to remove if a local government ever passed an ordinance eliminating the billboards. REGULATORY REFORM COMMITTEE SEEKING PUBLIC INPUT The Joint Committee on Regulatory Reform, chaired by Sens. Harry Brown (Jones) and David Rouzer (Johnston) and Reps. Marilyn Avila (Wake) and Pat McElraft (Carteret), is launching a statewide listening tour to receive feedback from the public on burdensome state regulations. The committee is tasked with scrutinizing all state regulations on the private sector and targeting outdated rules and regulations that should be eliminated. It is comprised of nine senators and nine representatives appointed by Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and Speaker of the House Thom Tillis. The first meeting of the joint committee was to be held March 11 in Wilmington. Additional meetings will be scheduled across the state. A new Web site (www.ncleg.net/regreform) will house a web-based submittal form as a tool for collecting public input. An e-mail address (regreform@ncleg.net) has been created for those who cannot attend meetings but would still like to submit comments (or for those who attend and want to submit additional comments or materials). CHECK US OUT ON YOUTUBE, TWITTER AND FACEBOOK The Association has several ways members can receive up-to-date legislative information. The NCACC's Twitter feed has more than 440 followers. Sign up to follow us at twitter.com/ncacc. You can also view our latest Twitter posts on the NCACC Web site (www.ncacc.org). If you are on Facebook, search for "NCACC" and click on the "Like" button to receive our updates. The Association posts breaking news on both the Twitter and Facebook pages. The Association is also creating weekly legislative video reports for the NCACC's YouTube Channel (www.youtube.com/ncacc1908). "This Week at the General Assembly" will be posted each Friday afternoon and will feature interviews with legislators and NCACC staff, reports on legislation impacting counties and updates on county legislative priorities. BILLS OF INTEREST The Association maintains a section on its Web site to track bills of interest to county officials. Visit www.ncacc.org/legislation/about.html for updates on these and other bills we are tracking. Bills added this week include:
– David F. Thompson, Executive Director |