Forms of North Carolina City Government

A North Carolina city's charter is an act of the North Carolina General Assembly, and normally only the General Assembly can amend one of its own acts. Nevertheless, by enactment of G.S. 160A-101 through 160A-111 (the "charter change statute") the General Assembly has delegated this power to amend a city's charter to that city's council, or voters, or both. (Throughout this summary, municipalities are referred to as cities. The word should be understood to also include municipalities that are called either towns or villages. In addition, the materials refer to a city's governing board as the council. The term should be understood to also include governing boards that are called boards of commissioners or boards of aldermen.)

It is important to recognize that the General Assembly's delegation is limited in scope. The charter provisions that may be amended by a city council or city voters are listed in G.S. 160A-101, and that listing is exclusive. If a council or a city's voters wish to amend the city's charter to make some sort of change not included in the listing, the council or the voters must request the General Assembly to make the change. The charter change statute is not available to them.

If a city uses the charter change statute to amend its charter, that action is final; there is no need for any sort of action by the General Assembly to ratify what the city has done. Nevertheless, it is important to remember that although the General Assembly has delegated this power of charter amendment to cities and city voters, the legislature has not relinquished its own authority to amend a city's charter. For that reason, a city that wishes to amend its charter has the choice of either using the charter change statute or asking the General Assembly to make the change. As noted, the statute does not affect the General Assembly's power to amend its own acts. (It is possible, though, that a city's representatives in the General Assembly will prefer that the city use the statutory procedures rather than seeking changes by legislative action.) Furthermore, nothing in the charter change statute bars the General Assembly from reversing an amendment made by a city council or a city's voters; the charter remains a legislative act and as such is always amenable to legislative change.