Agenda - 09-06-2012 - 7b - Laserfiche WebLink

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31 4) Seek legislation to ensure that State-funded mental health, developmental disability, and substance abuse services are available, accessible and affordable to all residents and that sufficient state resources fund service provision costs inclusive of sufficient crisis beds; 5) Support legislation which streamlines the sales tax refund regulatory process by exempting public institutions (counties, cities, school boards, community colleges, local utility authorities, etc.) from payment of State and local sales taxes on purchases within North Carolina and thereby diminish the administrative burden on the local and State level to pursue/account for/recoup sales tax proceeds; and 6) Support legislation which provides county governments some opportunity to regulate and/or have input into, but not prohibit, bio-solids application activities, including the acceptable "classes" of bio-solids for application and the prohibition of bio-solids application in certain environmentally sensitive areas such as critical watersheds. The appropriate application of bio-solids for agricultural use should be allowed with counties playing a role in the process; 7) Support legislation to provide additional State compensation to municipalities and local fire districts providing fire protection to state- owned buildings; 8) Support actions to change North Carolina Division of Water Quality (DWQ) wastewater system classification rules which currently classify a spray irrigation system such as one utilized by volunteer fire departments as "commercial". When the flow generated by the system is domestic quality/non-industrial process wastewater, the system should be held to the same monitoring and testing standards as a residential wastewater system under DWQ jurisdiction. In the alternative, volunteer fire departments should be excluded entirely from the "commercial" classification. The annual inspections and testing costs associated with a "commercial" designation for a spray irrigation system serving a volunteer fire department can be several thousands of dollars. Accounting for the type of flow actually treated by a system rather than assigning a blanket "commercial" designation would significantly reduce volunteer fire departments' annual costs across the state; 9) Support revisions to the Homestead Exemption provisions of the Machinery Act to a) provide greater opportunities for low-income seniors to remain in their homes and not be displaced due to property tax burdens by approving a one-time ten percent (10%) increase in the income qualification standard; and maintaining the current provisions which increase the income qualification standard each year based on any