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County attorney outlines proposed state and federal legislative goals for 2027–28
Summary
Gordon Watkins presented the county's proposed legislative goals to submit to the NCACC, covering property-tax protections, affordable-housing exemptions (HB 1042), down-zoning reform, relief from unfunded mandates (SNAP/Medicaid), more IDD innovation-waiver slots, and aligning Title IV-E rules for children's residential treatment.
Gordon Watkins, the county attorney, walked commissioners through proposed state and federal legislative goals the county will consider submitting to the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners (NCACC) for its 2027 legislative-goals conference. Among the state goals: protections to consider county demands if a proposed property-tax constitutional amendment passes; support for House Bill 1042 to limit nonprofit housing exemptions to bona fide affordable-housing nonprofits; and seeking changes to broad down-zoning restrictions.
Watkins also detailed priorities related to unfunded mandates — noting SNAP administrative-cost shifts and new Medicaid eligibility checks every six months — and requested approval to forward these goals to NCACC. Commissioners discussed whether local operations like alleged nonprofit-exemption practices exist in Forsyth County (Watkins said appeals and reviews are underway) and emphasized communication about county responsibilities and fiscal impacts. "We had 1 that was passed by 1 house and it was a victim of what's called gut and replace," Watkins said when describing the legislative process.
