WHAT HAPPENED: We
issued an action-alert (re-run below in this Bulletin) to contact your members of Congress to encourage their
support of federal legislation that would help cities and towns address revenue
shortfalls due to the pandemic’s effects. Gov. Roy Cooper
gave
an address on how the state might transition out of current restrictions
while maintaining public safety and health. Working groups of legislators at
the N.C. General Assembly continued meeting specifically about the coronavirus,
looking at topics including state law and remote meetings for local governments
as well as vehicle tax collection and inspection deadlines (detailed below in
this Bulletin).
WHAT IT MEANS: Now is the time to ask U.S. Sens. Burr and Tillis, as well as your U.S. House members, to approve federal aid for local coffers.
ON TAP: A new state legislative session. In less than two weeks, the full General Assembly will
fire back up, though with a few different procedures. The coronavirus means
extra precautions, including limiting who can enter the Legislative Building. Coverage
from
WRAL News and the
News & Observer lay out some of the big-picture
points and expectations.
THE SKINNY: Stay
healthy and informed as you join state and federal leaders in responding to
the crisis. Read on for more updates. And don’t
forget to send in those Census responses.
The workload for local leaders hardly ever subsides, and there are few situations where that is more true than now. And as your responsibilities increase, so do ours. Individually, the priority is your hometown. But together, as a whole—as a League—we're tackling the larger, looming crises.
To that aim, we're being heard and making an impact, evidenced by news coverage of cities and towns over the past week or so. On the policy front, we are
in front of lawmakers, expressing
the urgency of the situation
to Congress and working with Gov. Roy Cooper, state budget officials, and state lawmakers (as noted in this Bulletin). This week, the League also connected cities and towns with U.S. Reps. Ted Budd, Patrick McHenry and G.K. Butterfield in virtual roundtables about the coronavirus.
We're of course taking seriously the revenue picture, with context laid out in the League's annual
Revenue Projects Memo. This document is
bracing members for impact as they
prepare budgets and do all they can to
support their local economies.
Lastly, we're not letting anything fall to the wayside. Non-coronavirus issues still percolate, from the safeguarding of
key municipal authorities to the
need for reliable broadband across the state.
Leaders of a
House
COVID-19 working group expressed a desire Tuesday to address
COVID remote meeting concerns city officials have raised. At the meeting, the group’s
bipartisan legislative chairs directed staff to work with local government
advocates like the League and the N.C. Association of County Commissioners on
bill language that would clarify the authority of local boards to meet remotely
during this current state of emergency. The League requested this clarification
in the law several weeks ago, and thanks Continuity of State Operations Working
Group co-chairs Reps. John Bell, David Lewis, and Darren Jackson for
supporting updates to the law. Please call your legislative delegation and urge
them to support the ability for local boards to meet remotely during this state
of emergency.
Also in
Tuesday’s meeting, members of this working group endorsed another policy change
that has the potential to affect receipt of vehicle property taxes.
Specifically, the working group members expressed support for allowing the
extension of vehicle inspection deadlines (
listed
here on page 1), as well as for waiving fees and fines associated with those
deadlines. Local revenues could potentially be negatively impacted if such
measures were taken, due to the fact that, currently, vehicle owners pay their
property taxes only after the inspections. A delay in inspections could cause a
delay in vehicle property tax payments, if not otherwise addressed. When you
speak to your legislators, emphasize the need to keep vehicle property tax
payments in place even if the inspection requirement is delayed.
The General
Assembly will likely take up these items and other emergency measures as part
of a COVID-19 focused session beginning April 28. Legislative leaders this week
gave some detail regarding that session, saying that they expected committees
to meet remotely on April 29, with votes taking place in person on April 30.
During any of these meetings and voting sessions, leaders said that the only
people allowed to attend in person would be legislators, staff, and press
members. All other members of the public would be able to monitor the
discussions through
remote
audio streams.
Note: The League sent out the Action Alert that follows on Wednesday. Now is the time to contact your members of Congress to encourage them to support legislation that helps cities and towns address revenue shortfalls resulting from the COVID-19 crisis, as the next round of federal legislation may offer the best opportunity to meet these needs.Now is the time to contact your U.S. House members and U.S. Sens. Richard Burr and Thom Tillis to urge them to approve additional legislation that supports cities and towns as they address the effects of the COVID-19 crisis.
Let them know that the previously-approved CARES Act will not address the economic effects and associated revenue losses that cities and towns will suffer as a result of the pandemic. This is due to restrictions that limit funding to direct COVID-related expenses and only allow for direct funding to the largest local governments in the country.
Tell them that those restrictions need to be lifted and that an additional round of state and local funding should be included in any Interim Emergency Relief Bill. As you contact them, please make the following points:
- Small businesses are the lifeblood of towns and cities, and they need continuing help to remain viable. Municipalities and their residents depend on these businesses, but they in turn depend on city services.
- The slowdown in economic activity is certain to affect local government cash flows, revenues and budgets. Sales tax revenue makes up 28 percent of a median municipalities' general fund operating budget in North Carolina, and many municipalities expect that revenue stream to drop by 20 to 30 percent during this period of reduced economic activity.
- On average, 31 percent of general fund municipal budgets in North Carolina go toward public safety. Police, firefighters and other public safety staff are critical in addressing the COVID-19 crisis, and municipalities forced to cut staff will be damaging that response.
- Cities and towns in North Carolina also are facing revenue shortfalls and cash flow issues associated with water, sewer and electricity utility operations, as no-disconnect orders have been issued to protect customers and their health. And they are seeing substantial drops in hotel occupancy tax collections.
- The federal CARES Act is primarily limited to addressing direct COVID-related response expenses, and for many cities and towns will provide little relief for revenue shortfalls suffered by local governments. As these local governments will be forced to balance their budgets, staff and service cuts will only mean the extension of economic pain and the damaging effects of an economic downturn.
Please take action now as Congress is considering a new round of COVID-19 relief legislation.
Urge North Carolina members of the U.S. House and Senate to support cities and towns by taking commonsense steps to protect city services and those residents and businesses who depend on them.
CityVision 2020 has
been revamped into a virtual conference, complete with both live and on-demand
educational sessions, and the League’s annual business meeting—save the date
for May 28. Agenda and session details are coming soon, but the business
meeting will feature a similar lineup as year’s past and will include electronic
voting results and a swearing in of the 2020-2021 Board of Directors.
The 2020 Nominating Committee has
released
a memo to
the membership, which outlines the electronic nomination and voting process for
this year’s unpredictable circumstances. Members seeking a board seat, should
submit the
Candidate
Interest Form by 5 p.m. on April 30.
Don’t wait to submit your nomination—we
are posting candidate profiles online as they are received. Those and other
election information cancan be seen on the “
Election Central”
website,
www.election.nclm.org.
League Director of Political Communication and Coordination Scott Mooneyham is heard this week on a popular podcast discussing broadband needs through a pandemic lens. The podcast, called Community Broadband Bits, is produced by the Institute for Local Self Reliance and is hosted by its director, Christopher Mitchell, a broadband-issues expert.
“Christopher and Scott discuss how the spread of the novel coronavirus has changed life in the state's communities and how local governments are responding to new needs while continuing to provide essential services. Scott shares stories from towns that are now struggling with broadband access, despite their proximity to major metros, creating public safety concerns," the show blurb reads.
Listen to the 22-minute episode, titled “NC Needs Local Internet Choice to Tackle Pandemic."
They also discuss “
Disconnected," the recent WRAL documentary on broadband needs.
At this point, the official U.S. Census
Bureau mailers have been received, and communities are self reporting. While
the national response rate is just shy of 50 percent, it’s less than 46 percent
in North Carolina. Keep
up to date on
North Carolina's progress,
follow the
rankings,
and continue your local efforts to increase the count.
