 By The Numbers:
What Government Costs in North Carolina Cities and Counties
County and municipal governments provide many key services while taking in billions of dollars in revenue.
Their roles grow ever greater as state government shifts more taxing power to localities to make up for money kept by the state. Still, finding comparative data is hard. That's why this report provides information of how much local government costs in every city and county in North Carolina.
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 City and County Issue Guide
New 2008 Report
Local governments can help their communities by keeping a lid on local taxes and fees, avoiding unnecessary regulation, and allowing private property owners to use their property without fear of government meddling. Those are some key ideas offered in this year's issue guide.
The 34-page guide addresses 16 topics that challenge many local governments across North Carolina.
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1.05.09 - Former police chief sues Greensboro GREENSBORO — Former police chief David Wray has sued Greensboro and the city manager for violations of his civil rights. Wray’s lawsuit claims that because he is white, the city discriminated against him by publicly stripping him of his authority and forcing him out of office in 2006, according to a complaint filed Friday in Guilford County Superior Court. 1.05.09 - Greensboro working on records policy GREENSBORO — The city could soon have a new, more user friendly way of issuing public documents. In August, the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress asked the City Council to improve the speed, transparency and uniformity of the city’s response to requests for public records. That task has fallen to Denise Turner, the new assistant city manager for communications, who hopes to develop a policy by February. 1.05.09 - Newton Grove's golf cart ordinance stalled temporarily NEWTON GROVE — The town of Newton Grove has chosen, at least temporarily, not to pursue inclusion in existing legislation giving the town the right to regulate the use of carts within its town limits. The matter was discussed at both the August and September meetings of the Newton Grove Board of Commissioners, with a possible ordinance to be drafted by December to be presented at the N.C. General Assembly when state legislators convene at the end of this month.
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1.05.09 - Make incentives meaningful You would think that the leaders of businesses getting incentives would at least know their companies were receiving them. After all, the reason governments give incentives is to attract and keep businesses. But a UNC researcher found that 62 percent of the "top officials" at businesses getting incentives from the state of North Carolina didn't know their companies had them.
1.05.09 - It's past time for land use review to get started The acknowledgement by Waynesville’s leaders that they let a review of the town’s much-heralded land use plan languish and now intend to jumpstart the process is welcome news. “It’s back on track,” said Mayor Gavin Brown of the review process. It was last March when Town Planner Paul Benson was told to get the ball rolling on this important project. But since that time, next to no progress has been made, other than establishing a committee and beginning to look at a possible consulting firms. 1.05.09 - Hog lagoons are with us still Mike Easley was still North Carolina's attorney general when Smithfield, whose industrial farms at the time produced two-thirds of the state's hogs, agreed to phase out waste lagoons within five years and to convert to cleaner disposal systems. It's now been eight years, and a drive through Duplin County or Sampson County is a dead giveaway that hog lagoons are still with us. But new waste lagoons are now banned, a positive step that eventually should eliminate the smelly waste ponds that can overflow in heavy rains, sending their contents into nearby rivers and streams. The new rules, years in coming, took effect on New Year's Day.
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