City-County Consolidation in North Carolina
Transition and Other Accompanying Legislation
The main legislative document produced by a charter commission is the proposed charter for the consolidated government. But each of the charter commissions has also proposed separate legislation that would have accompanied enactment of the charter by the General Assembly. This accompanying legislation always includes one set of provisions, those dealing with the transition, and may include a second or third set.
Transition provisions
Each of the consolidation efforts included a set of provisions governing the transition from two governments to one. (In a couple of the early efforts, these transitional arrangements were part of the charter. More recently, they have been part of the accompanying legislation, given their temporary character.) The transition provisions for each of the eight efforts are summarized at the end of this paper, but there are a number of common threads that are discussed here.
Adoption of the charter and accompanying legislation
In two of the consolidation efforts – Durham I and Wilmington-New Hanover II – the General Assembly enacted the proposed charter and accompanying legislation before the referendum was held. In each of the others, however, the charter commission proposed that the charter’s enactment take place after the referendum and only if it were successful. If that pattern is followed in the future, any set of transition provisions must first allow an appropriate space of time for the General Assembly to act. (It should always be remembered that even if the voters approve a consolidation proposal, the legislature is under no legal compulsion to enact the charter and accompanying legislation, or to enact it without modification. There would be strong political pressure, however, to do so, and to make few changes, if any, in the document on which the voters voted.)
Set the effective date
The accompanying legislation will set the effective date of the consolidation. In practice most of the consolidation efforts have provided for a generous amount of time – a year or more – between enactment of the charter and accompanying legislation by the General Assembly and the effective date of consolidation. The main reason for doing so is to allow for detailed planning for the transition.
Create a transition planning group
Most of the efforts envisioned that some group would be created with responsibility for leading the detailed transition planning. Several of the efforts provided that the two existing governing boards were to create a transition planning committee – usually comprised of existing elected officials – which would advise the new governing board once it was elected. Some of the others combined the two existing boards into the initial consolidated government governing board and directed that this new board undertake the detailed planning. Durham II added an unique feature in requiring that the existing boards appoint a transition manager, who (together with a transition committee) was to be in charge of transition planning and who also might act as the new government’s manager if the new board was unable to agree upon the initial manager before the effective date.
Set the initial election
The accompanying legislation will set the date for the initial election of the new government’s governing board. Depending on the date chosen – usually the normal time for either city or county elections – the legislation might have to cancel a scheduled city or county election or shorten or lengthen the terms of existing board members.
Provide for administration of the existing budgets
Seven of the eight consolidation efforts proposed an effective date during the middle of a fiscal year. Thus, the county and city would have adopted their usual budgets for that fiscal year and administered them until the consolidated government came into effect. In those seven efforts, the accompanying legislation provided that the new government was to administer those final county and city budgets according to their own terms, as if the new governing board were both county commission and city council. Such a timetable gives the new government some number of months to organize and operate before it must adopt a fully consolidated budget, and that may be the reason it has been the dominant pattern.
General law amendments
Some of the consolidation proposals did not fit into the mold established by the City-County Consolidation Act. Charlotte II, for example, contemplated a new sort of service district, while Durham II would have kept both the city and county as legal entities. There may be other state laws that need to be modified to account for a consolidated government. Therefore some charter commissions have proposed changes to various state laws that would be necessary for the consolidation to take effect as envisioned, and those changes were part of the accompanying legislation. (Although such proposals are usually changes to statewide laws, they in fact would affect only the single consolidated government. For that reason the General Assembly has treated them as if they were local legislation and has given considerable deference to the legislators from the affected county.)
Local act amendments and repeals
Any existing county or city is subject to a considerable number of local acts of the General Assembly, beginning with the city’s charter. Some of this legislation will be incorporated into the consolidated government’s charter, some will prove to be outmoded, and some will be allowed to continue. If a charter commission has the time, its staff often reviews all the existing local legislation and decides if it should be repealed, amended, or left in place. The repeals and amendments can then be part of any accompanying legislation.
Transition provisions from the eight consolidation efforts
Charlotte-Mecklenburg I
Basic timetable
The Charter Commission scheduled the referendum for 22 March 1971. Had the outcome been favorable, the charter would then have been submitted to the General Assembly for enactment. The new government was to become effective a year or more after the General Assembly acted, on 15 August 1972.
Transition Commission
The legislation would have created a Consolidation Transition Commission, comprised of the mayor and mayor pro tem of Charlotte and the chair and one minority party member of the Mecklenburg board of commissioners. This commission would have undertaken the detailed planning for transition from the existing governments to the new one and presumably would have prepared recommendations for the new council once it took office.
Initial elections
The proposed charter provided that the initial mayor and council were to be elected in the spring of 1972. The primaries were to be held in March and the general election in April; and the new governing board was to take office on 15 August 1972, for staggered terms of about 1½ and 3½ years, in order to eventually have elections on the regular schedule set out in the charter.
Initial budget
The city and the county were each to adopt their normal budgets for the 1972-73 fiscal year, which began 1 July 1972. These budgets were to remain in effect after consolidation and were to be administered according to their terms by the consolidated government. The new council would have been permitted to amend either budget in the same manner that the former council or board of commissioners could have amended the city’s or county’s budget, respectively.
Wilmington-New Hanover I
Basic timetable
The Charter Commission scheduled the referendum for 27 February 1973. The new government was to become effective less than two months later, on 2 April 1973; and in the interim the General Assembly was to have adopted the charter for the consolidated government. This extremely short transition period was the result of the Charter Commission’s late decision to change the date of the referendum from November 1972 to February 1973, and it is quite possible that delays in getting the consolidation legislation enacted would have delayed the actual effective date.
Transitional governing board
On the effective date the existing city council members and county commissioners were to become the initial governing board for the consolidated government, selecting one of their number to be the initial mayor.
Initial elections
The proposed charter provided that the first elected mayor and board were to be elected in the fall of 1973, when there otherwise would have been elections for the city’s mayor and council members. Those officials were to serve three-year terms, and then in 1976 the normal election cycle would begin.
Initial budget
The consolidated government would have administered the existing city and county budgets for the remainder of the 1972-73 fiscal year, which ended 30 June 1973. The transitional board would have been permitted to amend either budget in the same manner that the former council or board of commissioners could have amended the city’s or county’s budget, respectively; and then the transitional board would have adopted the first consolidated government budget, for the 1973-74 fiscal year.
Durham I
Basic timetable
The Charter Commission scheduled the referendum for 10 September 1974. The new government was to become effective almost 15 months after the referendum, on 1 December 1975. (The General Assembly enacted the charter legislation before the referendum.)
Transitional planning
The proposed charter did not establish any formal transitional planning group, but it specifically authorized the existing governing boards to create committees to undertake the necessary planning.
Initial elections
The proposed charter provided that the initial mayor and board were to be elected in the fall of 1975, when there otherwise would have been elections for the city’s mayor and council members.
Initial budget
The city and the county were each to adopt their normal budgets for the 1975-76 fiscal year, which began 1 July 1975. These budgets were to remain in effect after consolidation and were to be administered according to their terms by the consolidated government. The new board would have been permitted to amend either budget in the same manner that the former council or board of commissioners could have amended the city’s or county’s budget, respectively.
Asheville-Buncombe
Basic timetable
The consolidation referendum was held on 2 November 1982. The new government would have become effective about two years later, on 3 December 1984; in the interim the General Assembly was to have adopted the charter for the consolidated government. (The dates for the referendum and the effective date of the new government were actually set in the legislation establishing the Charter Commission.) The city of Asheville was to hold its normal municipal election in November 1983, but the council members elected at that time were to serve only one year.
Transitional committee
Once the general assembly enacted the consolidated government charter, there was to be a transitional committee made up of the mayor and two council members and the commission chair and two other commissioners. If any of the smaller towns decided to become part of the consolidated government, they were to be represented on the transition committee by the town’s mayor or a board member, as decided by the town’s board. This transitional committee was to make appropriate recommendations to the existing governments and to the new government’s initial officials.
Initial elections
The proposed charter provided that the first elected chief executive and board were to be elected in the fall of 1984, when there otherwise would have been elections for county commissioners.
Initial budget
The consolidated government would administer the existing city and county budgets for the remainder of the 1984-85 fiscal year, which would end 30 June 1985. The Board of Commissioners would have been permitted to amend either budget in the same manner that the former council or board of commissioners could have amended the city’s or county’s budget, respectively. The first consolidated government budget would have been adopted for the 1985-86 fiscal year.
Wilmington-New Hanover II
Charter Commission charter
The Charter Commission’s proposed charter assumed a quick review, at most, of its work by the city and county governing boards and then a series of quick steps leading to a consolidated government. The charter was to go before the General Assembly in late winter for enactment, subject to a successful referendum, and the city and county were to jointly schedule the referendum for no later than 30 April 1987.
The charter provided that the consolidated government was to become effective 30 days after the referendum, but that statement is misleading. If the referendum had been held in April, the government would have become “effective” in May, 1987, but in fact it would not become operational until the end of the year. The first mayor and governing board were to be elected in the November 1987 elections, and it was only then that there would be an entity with authority to make decisions for the consolidated government.
In the interim, the city and county were to adopt their normal 1987-88 budgets, which would eventually be administered by the consolidated government. In addition, the proposed charter called for a transition committee – the mayor and two council members, and the chair and two other members of the board of county commissioners – to develop and make recommendations for further implementation by the first Board of Representatives.
The proposed charter had some other transitional provisions that were unique to this consolidation effort.
First, the government was to start with the adopted budgets of the city and county for 1987-88, and then the charter imposed limits on how much the new government could change the amounts of those budgets over the next several years.
Second, the charter set out a timetable showing by when various personnel decisions had to be made (although there was no enforcement method in the charter should these timetables not be met).
Governing board committee charter
Because the governing board committee did not complete its work until June 1987, it was obvious that the transition schedule set out in the Charter Commission’s proposed charter could not be met. The final charter set out quite a different set of transition procedures, with a much more leisurely transition schedule, than that set in the proposed charter. Also note that the General Assembly enacted this charter and accompanying legislation before the referendum.
The legislation enacting the final charter called for a referendum in October 1987. The first mayor and governing board were to be elected a year later, in October 1988. That group of officials was to be the transition committee but were not to actually take office as the new government’s governing board until the first Monday in June 1989. Until that day, the existing city and county governments were to continue in effect. During the interim between the fall 1988 elections and the June 1989 effective date, the transition committee was to do detailed planning for implementation of the new government.
Wilmington-New Hanover III
Basic timetable
The consolidated government was to become effective on the latest of two alternative dates – 60 days after the General Assembly enacted the government’s charter or July 1, 1996. At that time the two existing governing boards, including Wilmington’s mayor, were to become the transitional board of commissioners. This transitional board was to elect one of their number as transitional mayor of the consolidated government and appoint the transitional manager, attorney, and clerk.
Initial elections
This transitional board was to serve until December 1997, just after the November 1997 elections. At that election, the first mayor and board of commissioners elected specifically to those positions were to be elected, with the winners taking office in December.
Initial budget
The legislation would have assumed that the two governments had already adopted their budgets for the 1996-97 fiscal year, and directs that the new government administer those budgets as adopted and amended.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg II
Basic timetable
The consolidated government was to be voted on in the fall of 1996 and would have become effective July 1, 1997.
Transitional board
The proposed transitional legislation directed that on January 2, 1997, and until June 30, 1997, the two existing governing boards were to be the Transitional Governing Board. (They were to continue, as well, as the governing boards of the county and city.) This transitional board was to have the powers of the Metro Council (except for the authority to rezone property), but none of its actions were to become effective until July 1, 1997. The clear intention was to take actions so that the new government could hit the ground running on July 1. Once the governing became effective, this same group of people became the Metro Council and operated as such through December 1, 1997.
Initial election
In the fall of 1997 elections would have been held for the first Metro Council elected as such, and those elected would take office in December 1997.
Initial budget
Because this consolidation would have become effective July 1, 1997, there was no need to administer holdover budgets from the city and county. One of the major responsibilities for the Transitional Governing Board would have been to prepare the initial budget for the consolidated government.
Durham II
Basic timetable
The entire merger study process was intended to lead to a referendum in the fall of 2000, and the commission’s draft transition provisions are based on that intention. If the charter had been put before the voters, and if they had approved it, the next step would have been its enactment by the General Assembly. The consolidated government would have become effective 3 December 2001.
Transition manager and committee
Once the charter was enacted by the General Assembly, the draft legislation directed the two existing governing boards to appoint a “transition manager.” This person was to lead the transition effort in general, and was given two specific responsibilities. First, the transition manager was to hire a consultant to advise on the merger of the two governments’ IT operations. Second, if the new governing board was unable to agree upon a city-county manager within 90 days after it took office, the transition manager was to assume some of the responsibilities of such a manager, most importantly appointing interim directors of new departments created because of the merger.
In addition to the transition manager, the enabling legislation directed the two existing governing boards to create a seven-member Transition Advisory Committee, to study transition issues and make recommendations to the two existing boards and the new governing board once it was elected.
The enabling legislation also directed the city and county to contract for a study of HR systems, with the goal of making a recommendation for merging those systems.
Initial election
The initial election for consolidated government officials would have been held in November 2001, with all those elected serving three-year terms; the initial elections on the county cycle would have been held in 2004.
Initial budget
The enabling legislation called for the new board to administer the existing city and county budgets for 2001-2002 according to their terms, with the same powers of amendment as had the county commissioners and city council. The first integrated budget would have been for the 2002-2003 fiscal year.
The enabling legislation also included an unusual property tax measure. The government was to determine the overall amount of property taxes levied by the city and county for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2001 and determine the percentage levied against property in the city and the percentage levied against property in the county. For the next two fiscal years, the new government was required to adopt budget ordinances that kept these same percentages intact (subject to certain exceptions).