On March 17, 2014, the Fayetteville City Council hosted a meeting with the NC State Delegation. The purpose of the meeting was for council to convey topics of interest that the city would like for the state delegation to be aware of in the short session of the general assembly which begins in May.
Who Attended?
Fayetteville Mayor & City Council
State Delegation – Senator Wesley Meredith 19th District, State Rep. Marvin Lucas 42nd District, State Rep. Elmer Floyd 43rd District, State Rep. Rick Glazier 44th District, State Rep. John Szoka 45th District (Senator Ben Clark 21st District was absent)
Below are topics of discussion and talking points related to the real estate industry.
Municipal Privilege License Tax reform
talking points from Ted Voorhees (City Manager)
- enequatible treatment, some companies are treated differently
- administration is different from different parts of the state
- we are open to reform
- we need a flat tax that treats everyone the same
- large retailers pay 10 – $20,000 and can generate license tax, is it fair for a big box to pay $100 vs $100,000 compared to a mom and pop
- if $100 is the cap than that is less revenue for us…$600,000 per year
- we would have to offset with a tax increase
What Was Said:
Rep. Szoka – “Im on the Revenue Laws Committee…not that the state is looking for revenue. The purpose of the MPLT was that cities would know what types of businesses where in your city. It was not a revenue generator. It’s a fairness issue.”
Councilman Crisp – “Overkill with this, if you cap at a $100…$100 for small and beyond that if they gross 5 million, we get the percentage.”
Mayor Robertson – “Larger businesses take up more city services.”
Councilman Mohn – “It’s excess burden on the police department. We have money tied up in the same businesses. We would have to hire more officers.”
Rep. Szoka – “So big boxes take up more resources, they’re paying more property taxes.”
Rep. Lucas – “I’m sensing that Fayetteville is content with this. My advice is let’s not fix something that’s not broken.”
Rep. Szoka – “If the purpose is only to register a company, then it should be uniform.”
City Manager Voorhees – “Is it a gross receipts tax or what? NC has lost clarity of meaning.”
RAMP (Rental Action Management Program) HB 773 – passed House and now sits in Senate Commerce Committee
What Was Said:
City Manager Voorhees – “Thank you for the support of RAMP, especially when Representative Brawly tried to fight us. Senator Meredith locked it down. The local REALTORS® Association sees it as a positive. We have to regulate the bad actors. It is not a money grab. That’s not what’s happening. We have a limited amount of people in RAMP. We’ve had the backing from the real estate community.”
Rep. Floyd – “On the house side, we slowed the movement down. I don’t think it will be acted upon in the short session but it will be acted upon in the long session.”
Rochelle Small-Toney (Deputy City Manager) – “We have had a great deal of support from the REALTORS®.”
Sen. Meredith – “Yes, I’ve received letters from them.”
Other Comments:
Councilman Colvin – “Is there an appetite for a sales tax?”
Sen. Meredith -“Until you decide as a group with a resolution…I don’t think we would respond to that until there is a resolution.”
Rep. Lucas – “We need to start addressing the mass transit movement. If we don’t talk about it, it never will happen. We can’t build enough roads.”
