WHAT HAPPENED: Nearly 4,000 lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19
in North Carolina. At least 80 deaths. Several hundred hospitalized. Almost
every county in North Carolina is affected, according to the
N.C.
Department of Health and Human Services. On Thursday, the governor put out
another executive order with measures for retailers to follow to further limit
chances of community transmission.
WHAT IT MEANS: Policy measures continue changing and new
questions continue emerging from a local government standpoint. The League has
been hard at advocacy work and intergovernmental communication so municipal
officials can focus on their residents and local businesses, but we’ll point
out an action area in this Bulletin cities and towns should take up
immediately.
ON TAP: Call your legislators now regarding the revenue
shortfalls expected in municipal budgets – that’s your action item. You know
the situation at home, but read the article below for broader background and
context along with info on a COVID-19 response measure from the N.C. General
Assembly, expected for a vote at the end of this month.
THE SKINNY: We know you’re swamped in dealing with local
matters. That’s what you do. As the news comes in, we’ll continue updating our COVID-19-related resource page, https://www.nclm.org/coronavirus, with blog posts and answers to frequently asked questions to help you out. Conditions
will continue changing. Stay informed.
Please call legislators this weekend regarding the expected revenue
shortfalls in municipal budgets. Tell them about what your town has done to
support residents and businesses in the COVID-19 crisis, but also share with
them that lower tax and utility revenues will mean cuts in the critical areas
of public safety and utilities. For more background and League analysis on the
fiscal picture for North Carolina cities, please refer to
these talking points and
this letter sent to legislators this past week. You may also learn more from
this
Raleigh News & Observer article, which included the League’s
perspective while taking a comprehensive look at how COVID-19 has economically
impacted local governments across the state.
State legislators are now planning a COVID-19 response bill,
expected to be presented and voted on at the end of this month. To ensure that
the needs of cities remained part of that ongoing discussion, the League
undertook many activities this week to advance the priorities of city
officials. At the legislature, League staff offered four briefings for each
legislative caucus and their staff members. These briefings outlined the
COVID-19 requests the League made of legislators last week.
Additionally, to bring city officials up to speed on the
League’s latest fiscal analysis and legislative requests, the League staff held
its first video meeting in the new Advancing Advocacy series. This series, to
be held every Thursday afternoon at 3 p.m. for all League members, focuses on
the top-line developments at the state and federal level each week. Each
meeting will also include action items and offer direction for city officials
to take action and communicate with state and federal decision-makers. Look for
an email each week to know the topics that will be discussed, and to receive
directions on how to participate.
As Congress
discusses a new round of legislation in response to the COVID 19 outbreak,
the League sent a letter this week to members of North Carolina’s congressional
delegation outlining the needs of cities and towns as they address the crisis.
The letter, sent Thursday by NCLM President William Pitt on behalf of the
League’s Board of Directors, noted that federal legislation to date had not
addressed the economic effects of the COVID 19 outbreak on municipal budgets.
It pointed out that the recently passed federal
CARES Act limited funds
directed at state and local governments to direct COVID response.
“These facts
tell the story of why additional legislation is needed: Sales tax contributes a
significant part of a city’s revenue; the median city in North Carolina
receives about 28 percent of its revenue from sales tax; that revenue is used
to help pay the largest categorical expenses in a city’s general budget --
public safety,” the letter said. It also provided detailed information about
how utility revenues, occupancy taxes and potentially delayed payments of some
property taxes could affect municipal budgets.
The letter
comes as League staff continues to organize virtual meetings with members of
North Carolina congressional delegation, including
this one scheduled with U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield set for next week. Look
for more information from the League next week regarding federal outreach and
advocacy as we work with you to continue making municipal needs known at the
state and federal level.
The Institute
for Local Self Reliance’s Community Networks, which the League has worked with
on several projects promoting better broadband access, has created a new North
Carolina-focused website on the issue and is encouraging North Carolinians to
take part on a “speed test” to better document residents’ actual Internet
speeds rather than those advertised by providers. The site and speed tests created
by the Minneapolis-based organization can be found at
https://nc.localbroadband.org/. The effort, which includes
the recent WRAL documentary “Disconnected” that NCLM collaborated on, comes as the
League continues to promote the passage of
the FIBER NC Act to better enable
public-private partnerships to improve broadband access.
Meanwhile,
former Governor Bev Perdue recently wrote
this op-ed appearing on the WRAL website noting
the lengths to which public school teachers are having to go to connect with
students since schools closed due to the COVID 19 pandemic. Perdue says North
Carolina needs to come out of the crisis doing better to make their jobs easier
by bringing better broadband connection to residents. The opinion piece follows
an article on the site from a North Carolina
school teacher which goes into detail about her difficulties connecting with
students. Accompanying the article, you will see NCLM sponsored content on the
issue.
Retails establishments that are permitted to operate under previous COVID-19
measures from state government now must take additional steps to cap the risk
of community transmission of the coronavirus and make sure people adhere to
social distancing, per a new executive order the governor issued Thursday.
Executive Order 131 also seeks to expedite the processing of unemployment insurance
claims. For retail establishments, the order “limits retail establishments to
no more than 20 percent of the business’s stated fire capacity or five
customers for every one thousand square feet of the retail location’s total
square footage. Retail locations may choose which of the two calculations on
which they base their maximum occupancy. For the square footage calculation, it
includes the full footprint of the interior building, and all retail- and
non-retail space.” That’s according to an
anticipated-questions-and-answers document the
governor’s team issued along with the order, which spells out a social distancing
requirement as well, along with a number of recommendations for retail spaces. “The Governor expects retail establishments will
comply with the Order to ensure the safety of their employees and customers and
believes that most of them will,” the document notes. “If necessary, the Order
will be enforced by local law enforcement.”
Read the full document for more, with
particulars on how it may affect local orders.
At this point, the
official U.S. Census Bureau mailers have been received, and communities are
self reporting. Across the
country, close to half the people have self-reported as of April 6. In North
Carolina, unfortunately, that number is only 42.9 percent. Keep up to date on North Carolina's progress
here,
follow the rankings
here,
and continue your local efforts to increase the count. The 2020 Census is the first to allow easy response online.
