Short of having a crystal ball, finance and budget officers don’t have a lot to go on to determine the financial impact of COVID-19 on North Carolina local governments. That doesn’t mean, however, that there aren’t steps local finance and budget officials can take to begin to prepare for the inevitable decline in revenue.
Steps for 2019-2020 Budgets
Blog Entry List
One of the General Assembly’s first two coronavirus pandemic response bills, SB 704 in Section 2.3, establishes the “Local Government Coronavirus Relief Reserve” (Local Reserve). The new law then transfers the sum of $300 million derived from the federal CARES Act, P.L. 116-136, to the new Local Reserve. The General Assembly implicitly allows $150 million to be spent for responses to the pandemic as allowed by the original federal act.
Senate Bill 704 (S.L 2020-3), signed into law on May 4, 2020 by Governor Cooper, extends the due date of any credentials, permits, and registrations issued by DMV, and waives any penalties or fees for not complying with the original due dates of such items.
As required by G.S. 159-35, the Local Government Commission staff has emailed statements of debt service obligations to local governments. Finance Officers should have received an annual e-mail with a link to the LGC129 Report – Annual Bond and Note Principal and Interest Requirements.
All North Carolina local governments and certain nonprofits are eligible to apply to the FEMA Public Assistance Program for FEMA reimbursement to assist with emergency expenses related to responding to COVID-19. The NC Division of Emergency Management and the UNC School of Government have partnered to produce an on-demand applicant briefing webinar that gives instructions on how to register for FEMA reimbursement, information on general reimbursement eligibility of COVID-19 expenses, tips on documenting expenses, and COVID-19 federal procurement requirements. A link to the
As you are likely aware, the GAO 2018 Revision of the Government Auditing Standards – also known as the Yellow Book – are in effect for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2020. We are not anticipating any delay in this standard as it is already in effect; therefore, the standard will be applicable for certain audits for units with a June 30, 2020 fiscal year end. What does that mean to you as a local government? Or to y
Although the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on North Carolina counties is not yet known, we can be sure that there will be one. We can also be sure that the pandemic downturn will negatively impact sales tax revenues for both the final quarter of FY 2020 and part or all of FY 2021.
Public utility systems have undoubtedly taken a hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, be it from businesses reducing hours or shutting down, or from the temporary ban on enforcing collections or both. In addition, some units may be dealing with a reduced workforce to manage their systems. All of these challenges may be a cause for concern with your May (SRF) and June (USDA) debt payments that are due soon. If you think you may have difficulty making your May SRF payment, please contact Jennifer House at DEQ as soon as you practically c
We have received many questions recently about interim budgets, and for good reason. Revenue estimates for the 2020-2021 fiscal year are very likely to be anyone’s guess for sources like sales tax and utility charges for services, at least in the short term. As time passes and we collect more information, we should get a clearer picture of what to expect.
When: Thursday, April 2, 1:00 - 2:30pm
Cost: Free
The guidance that was provided in this post is no longer accurate due to Governor Roy Cooper’s Executive Order No. 124 issued on March 31, 2020 and has been removed. Please refer to the order for details or contact us at SGLFD@nctreasurer.com with questions.
In a press release dated March 26, 2020, the GASB announced it is considering postponement of implementation of all standards and implementation guides with effective dates that begin on or after reporting periods ended June 30, 2018, and beyond. Of particular interest to NC local governments is that included in this consideration are both Statement 84 on Fiduciary Funds and Statement 87 on Leases. This is excellent news for local governments faced with myriad challenges as a result of COVID-19.
If you were unable to call in to the ZOOM call held on Wednesday, March 25, the UNC School of Government is sponsoring a repeat of the call on Friday, March 27, at 1:00 p.m.
If you participated on the March 25 call, please DO NOT join the call on March 27. We will be repeating the same information and want to reach the maximum number of people. We will also make the recording of that call available.
Please note that we will be hosting additional calls in the next few weeks.
The UNC School of Government is sponsoring two free ZOOM calls this week for local governments about water/wastewater utilities operations and information for local government finance professionals during COVID-19.