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• North Carolina courts have consistently upheld amortization as a fair and just method of <br />balancing the public interest in protecting community appearance with the financial <br />impact of new standards on billboard owners. <br />• Senate Bill 1056 would cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars to remove a single <br />sign by requiring local governments to have to pay up to five times the annual net income <br />of the billboard simply to have it removed. If and when the billboard industry begins <br />installing electronic signs in North Carolina, this cost could increase substantially. <br />• A number of North Carolina communities have used amortization to successfully improve <br />their community's appearance. <br />• Five times in the past, the General Assembly has prudently stopped the billboard industry <br />from getting an unnecessary windfall from taxpayers by making the right decision and <br />choosing the interests of communities over the interests of the billboard industry, <br />These organizations ask the Board to join them in their opposition to Senate Bill 1056 by <br />passing a resolution opposing the bill to help preserve the ability of local governments to use <br />amortization as a technique to phase in new standards for billboards and other off-premise <br />signs in order to improve their community's appearance. <br />It should be noted that the North Carolina Assoriation of County Commissioners (NCACC) is <br />also opposing Senate Bill 1056, with an NCACC staff member noting to County staff that the bill <br />is intrusive into local government planning authority and will cast a lot of money to pay owners <br />for removal through a cumbersome process of determining value. NCACC staff also has some <br />belief that a few, as of yet unknown, modifications are being formulated for the bill, but that <br />those revisions if they come to fruition will likely not be substantial enough and will likely not <br />change NGACC's opposition. <br />FINANCIAL IMPACT: There are no public fiscal impacts associated with this decision. <br />RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve the resolution <br />and authorize the Chair to sign it, <br />