AGENDA #13a
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Consideration of Potential Legislative Issues
DATE: February 12, 2001
The Council will meet with the local legislative delegation on February 16 to discuss issues for the coming year. The Council may find it helpful to discuss potential legislative issues at tonight’s meeting, in preparation for the legislative breakfast.
The deadline for submission of local bills to Legislative Bill Drafting in the N.C. Senate is 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 14, 2001. Bills must be filed for introduction in the Senate by 3 p.m. on March 21. The N.C. House has not yet adopted its deadline rules.
The tentative Council calendar includes an item for February 26 that sets the scope and calls a public hearing for potential legislative requests. The hearing is scheduled for March 5. We recommend adopting the legislative issues that same night in order to meet the March 14 bill-drafting deadline.
Part B of this agenda item also includes a separate proposal from Council Member Evans, requesting support of the Regional Legislative Agenda of the Triangle J Council of Governments and a State-wide mandatory program for recycling bottles and cans.
Protecting Town Revenues. We recommend that the Council ask legislators to protect existing local government revenue sources, including the following:
This is the basic State-shared revenue list over which the State has control. In the last fiscal crisis, the State froze the utility franchise tax, intangibles tax, wine and beer tax, and inventory taxes at the then-current levels, and the State retained all the growth in these revenue sources from 1993 until 1997.
In addition, Governor Martin attempted to withhold the State fire protection funds for local governments and suspended payments for two quarters. (We were receiving $296,000 at that time.) However, Gov. Martin eventually reinstated all the payments. Our fire payments now are $850,000 annually.
Opposing Preferential Treatment. House Bill 4, sponsored by Rep. Bob Hensley of Wake County, proposes providing full retirement benefits to police officers after 25 years of service. This bill, if passed, would reduce the basic service requirements needed for unreduced retirement benefits from 30 years to 25 years for police officers. We believe that providing preferential benefits for one class of municipal employees is not consistent with sound personnel management practices. The N.C. League of Municipalities consistently opposes such preferential benefits. We recommend that the Council consider opposing this proposal.
Opposing State-Mandated Disciplinary Procedures for Law Enforcement Officers. House Bill 5, also sponsored by Rep. Hensley of Wake County, would set rules and procedures for how municipalities must handle disciplinary actions of law enforcement officers. No police officer could be discharged, suspended, or demoted for disciplinary reasons, except for just cause. According to the bill, local governments would be required to establish procedures that include hearings before a “fair and impartial board of hearing officer,” among other provisions. We believe that such local personnel decisions should be made at the local level, and that the Town’s policies already include provisions for fair hearings that apply to all employees.
Supporting New Sources of Transportation Revenues. The Legislature’s Transportation Finance Committee has recommended measures consisting of a 2-cent increase in the gas tax and an increase in various fees that would result in $550 million in new revenues for road maintenance and construction and a Public Transportation Trust Fund.
Recycling of Bottles and Cans. A mandatory State-wide program for recycling bottles and cans is an issue included in a separate agenda item prepared by Council Member Evans.
That the Council consider a list of potential legislative issues for discussion at the Legislative Breakfast on February 16.