Henderson daily dispatch., 1939-04-08
Municipal
Group Got
About Half
Cities a n. d Towns
F are d Reasonably
Well I'm Recent Legis-
lature; Cooperated
With County Commits
sioner Group
Daily Dispatch Bureau.
In the Sir Walter Hotel.
Rv T.VNN NTSRET
III
Bv |

Raleigh, April 8.-When the cities
and towns in North Carolina assay
the work of the legislature just clos
ed, they will find that the State
lawmakers gave them just about
half what they asked for. This is
evident from comparison Of the leg
islative program of the League of
Municipalities with actual legislative
results.
One distinct gain that was made,
however, though not reflected in leg
islation. was a closer working ar
rangement between cities and towns
on the one hand and county govern
ments on the other. All through the
session just closed, the association of
county commissioners and the league
of municipalities stood shoulder to
shoulder in all the fighting for more
consideration for local governmental
units.
Before the legislature convened,
the league of municipalities, of which
Pat Healy at Raleigh is executive
secretary, outlined a <even point leg
islative program This program car
ried two negative and five positive
planks. Later on, sixth positive
plank in support of the housing bills
was approved by the legislative COM
mittee, and due largely to league ac-
tivity these laws were enacted.
The first negative point was OPP
position to the homestead exemption,
as we'll as to other exemptions from
local tax levies. The league scored
100 per cent on this item, for not on
1xy fhn hnyoanc+nod
voted down, but exemptions hereto
fore permitted in intangibles are no
longer legal.
The league also opposed with
Vigor the restrictions placed upon
municipalities in levying license tax
es under Schedule B. For some years
the trend has been to increase these
levies on part of the State and to
prohibit local units from leVying any
tax. Substantial gains were made in
this respect, and cities and towns will
derive much additional revenue from
this source.
OF positive gains, the league exc
cutive thinks enactment of a tax
foreclosure law was probably the
most important accomplishment. I'm
der ~ new law, written as a Sec
ton of the Machinery Act" pro-
visions for listing property, levying
and collecting taxes, and foreclos-
ing on delinquent tax certificate are
all included in one chapter This SIM
plifies study of the laws and will en-
able officials to comply with the
law with less difficulty than hereto
fore. 1t is believed that the new law
will make it easier to get clear title
to land sold for taxes. 1t ought also
to facilitate collections of taxes.
The league of municipalities, along
with the county commissioners, went
after larger share of intangibles tax
returns to the counties and cities. Fol
the past two years the State has col
lected the intangibles tax and has re-
turned half of the amount collected
to the towns and cities The lOca
units asked for all Of it, and they go
go per cent-an increase of ten pei
cent over last years return, and viii
mean several hundred thousand dol
lars to the various local government
units in the State. At one time the
revenue act allocated rs per cent OF
the intangible receipts to the Local
units, but when the need for a bal
anced State budget became so acute
this was changed to 60 per cent
On the proposition to get more
money from the State highway funt
for use on streets in towns and cite.
which streets are a part of State
highways, the league just held it.
ground. Last year half million dol