EDITOR’S NOTE: This story was updated on May 15, 2020 to include comment from Hamlet officials with regard to providing prior notice to the county before reducing their ETJ.
ROCKINGHAM — Rockingham and Hamlet officials are disputing a key claim made by Chairman of the Richmond County Board of Commissioners Kenneth Robinette that was central to his justification for the county’s decision to not notify the municipalities that they were considering changing the sales tax distribution method.
The vote to change the distribution method from per capita to ad valorem in April was done without prior notice to the municipalities despite the direct impact it will have on their sales tax revenues. Robinette suggested that this lack of notice was retaliation for Hamlet and Rockingham not giving the county any notice before relinquishing parts of their extra-territorial jurisdiction (ETJ) which is now the responsibility of the county. The ETJ is is area outside the city limits over which the city enforces codes in the hopes of annexing those areas in the future.
After the six municipalities in Richmond County approved proclamations urging the county to overturn their decision, Robinette wrote in a letter published in the Daily Journal on May 9, “Communication is a two way street. There certainly was no communication by Hamlet and Rockingham with County leaders prior to their decision to dump their unwanted extra-territorial jurisdiction upon the County.”
But there was communication, according to Rockingham Mayor Steve Morris, Assistant City Manager John Massey, and former Hamlet City Manager Jonathan Blanton.
Massey said that he told Richmond County Planning Director Tracy Parris that the city was considering relinquishing parts of its ETJ on March 12, 2019 while the two were at a Lumber River transportation meeting in Pembroke. Parris did not respond to an emailed request for comment Tuesday and a voicemail Wednesday.
The public agenda for the Rockingham City Council’s April 9, 2019 meeting included a vote on whether to hold a public hearing on the ETJ reduction on May 14. The city published public notices in the Daily Journal prior to this hearing on April 26 and May 3, 2019.
Massey said that he corresponded with Parris extensively via email over the course of April and May 2019, providing her maps and other information.
“It’s patently false that (the county) was given no notice about the ETJ removal,” Massey said in an interview Wednesday. “I have a very good working relationship with Tracy … I wouldn’t want to be blindsided that way and I didn’t want to do that to her.”
The City of Hamlet considered reducing their ETJ at their May 14, 2019 meeting. The public hearing on the change was held on Oct. 8, 2019 at the city’s monthly meeting, and it was advertised in the Daily Journal on Sept. 8 and Sept. 25, 2019. Blanton emailed Parris and County Manager Bryan Land on May 20, 2019, saying that city staff was preparing to reduce the ETJ and that Blanton would send a formal letter with “specific details on on where and the specific areas in the near future.”
“I just wanted to make you both aware and see if there is anything else you may need from us prior,” Blanton wrote.
The initial effective date that Rockingham’s ETJ would be the county’s responsibility was Oct. 1, 2019, but Parris requested that that date be moved back to Jan. 1, 2020 to give the county more time to prepare. Both Rockingham and Hamlet agreed to make this the effective date of their respective ETJ reductions.
The Department of State Treasurer advised Land that “any decision to modify the distribution method should be made in close consultation with, and with sufficient notice given to, the county’s municipalities,” according to Sharon Edmundson, director of the Fiscal Management Section of the State and Local Government Finance Division of the North Carolina Department of State Treasurer.
The municipalities found out that the sales tax distribution method was changed on April 7 — the day after the county commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the change — when contacted by the Daily Journal for comment.
Morris emphasized that the county had nine months of preparation for this change, between March 2019 and the effective date of Jan. 1, 2020, compared to the zero notice given to the municipalities prior to county changing the sales tax distribution method.
“Maybe the great communicators on the Richmond County Board of Commissioners should communicate more with their staff and find out what is going on,” Morris said. “Seems like nine months should be adequate time to prepare.”