The Balance Sheet

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.

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 deri

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 registe

From Diane Juffras at UNC's School of Government: 

I recently published a new blog post on our Coates’ Canons blog: Furloughing Employees During the COVID-19 Crisis. You can find it here.

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 ef

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 th

We have received many questions recently about interim budgets, and for good reason.

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.

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.

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. 

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.