Court Opinion

ID: 9609585
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 03:28:49.089046+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:03:05.880200
License: Public Domain

Justice Mitchell
dissenting.
For reasons thoroughly explained in the thoughtful opinion of the Court of Appeals in this case, I would hold that the City of Charlotte is without authority to impose user fees. Further, I do not believe that the fees at issue here are “user fees.” I had always understood that matters such as review of plans for subdivisions and condominiums, storm drainage problem studies, tree ordinance reviews, erosion control reviews, and similar activities were for the benefit of and equally “used” by the entire public. Further, I had thought that to single out any small segment of the public to pay the full costs of such activities was to risk violating constitutional prohibitions on' taking the property of such individuals without due process of law. Apparently the General Assembly of North Carolina shares such concerns since it has expressly provided that cities may pay for the “regulation of development” within their boundaries by levying general property taxes on all citizens. N.C.G.S. § 160A-209(c)(25) (1987); see also N.C.G.S. § 160A-209(c)(30) (streets), (34) (watershed improvements, e.g., drainage). As the activities to be paid for in this case are activities benefiting all citizens of the city equally, fees to pay for them are not “user fees” in any proper sense of that term. That being the case, I believe that the intent of the legislature in passing statutes such as N.C.G.S. § 160A-209 and others was to require that cities levy general taxes to pay for such services. If this were not the case, the legislature would have expressly authorized such fees, just as it did with regard to services furnished by sewer districts. N.C.G.S. § 162A-88 (1991).
For the foregoing reasons, I believe that the General Assembly of North Carolina intended that cities not have the authority to impose fees such as those at issue here upon small groups of the public that the cities have arbitrarily deemed to be “users.” Accordingly, I respectfully dissent from the decision of the majority.
Justice Webb joins in this dissenting opinion.