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WMI <br />Orange County Board of Commissioners <br />Page 3 <br />December 2, 2003 <br />A petition requesting a special school election bearing the <br />approval of a board of education, when presented to the board of <br />commissioners, carries with it the requirement that the board of <br />commissioners call the election. It is therefore the "duty of <br />the board of county commissioners to call the election <br />petitioned for and fix the date for the election." N.C. Gen. <br />Stat. § 115C -506. A county board of election conducts the <br />election called by the board of county commissioners and, where <br />the election is the result of the board of education petitioning <br />for it, the board of education pays for the election. N.C. Gen. <br />Stat. § 115C -507. The board of commissioners sets the date for <br />the election regardless of the method by which the election <br />occurs. That is, even when the election is called because of the <br />petition to the board of county commissioners from the boards) <br />of education, the board of county commissioners sets the <br />election date. <br />The statutes authorizing local tax elections do not explain <br />what happens when, in the case of a multi - administrative unit <br />county, one board of education petitions the board of <br />commissioners for a county -wide supplemental tax and the other <br />does not. This is so notwithstanding the fact that the law <br />appears to make it mandatory for the board of county <br />commissioners to call a county -wide supplemental tax election <br />only within the administrative unit whose board of education <br />petitions for it, A question that further muddies this water is <br />what happens if the election is actually conducted and passes in <br />only one administrative unit? One answer to this question is <br />that the tax would be imposed only on property in the <br />administrative unit where the election is conducted but the tax <br />proceeds would be distributed county -wide on a per pupil basis. <br />I can't say that I think the General Assembly intended this <br />result. I can say that I would expect such an outcome to result <br />in litigation. Presumably, if the Board of Commissioners of <br />Orange County were to receive a petition from only one of the <br />boards of education in the County seeking an election on a <br />county -wide supplemental tax, it would use its authority to call <br />an election county -wide. If a board of education petitions the <br />board of county commissioners for an election, the board of <br />education may withdraw the petition 25 days before the election. <br />If the petition is withdrawn, the election is not held <br />