Fayetteville Observer: Robeson County commissioners approved a tax incentives package Monday for "Project Apple" without identifying the company behind the proposal. The Open Meetings Law prohibits boards from taking actions by reference when the intent is to make it impossible for the public to understand what is being decided.
The Fayetteville Observer reports that Robeson County commissioners approved a tax incentive program on Monday for an unnamed company by referring to it as “Project Apple.” The incentive package would give the company tax relief of 75 percent over four years.
The N.C. Open Meetings Law allows boards to go into closed session to discuss economic development incentives, and it requires any decisions about the incentives to be made in an open session. The law also prohibits government bodies from taking action by reference with the “intention of making it impossible for persons attending a meeting of the public body to understand what is being deliberated, voted, or acted upon.”
The Robeson County commissioners did not disclose the name of the company and only referred to the program as “Project Apple.” The commissioner’s attorney told the newspaper that the vote by reference to “Project Apple” did not violate the law’s requirements and that the incentives package was not a final offer, either. An attorney for the N.C. Press Association told the newspaper the company’s name should have been disclosed.
Read the Observer‘s coverage here.