Background
It is impossible to know the internal considerations of the
North Carolina Supreme Court when it accepted for review the case
of City of Asheville v. State of North Carolina and
the Metropolitan Sewerage District of Buncombe County, __
N.C. App. ___, 777 S.E. 2d 92 (October 6, 2015). But the tragedy of
the State of Michigan taking over and operating the Flint Michigan
water system was prominently in the news.
Under basic law, a North Carolina municipality possesses only
those powers granted by the General Assembly. Municipal powers are
of two types – (1) governmental and (2) proprietary.
Proprietary powers authorize municipalities to establish public
enterprises, business-like operations, to provide important public
services to local citizens, such as drinking water. Without an
express grant of authority, the City of Asheville is powerless to
establish, own or operate a public drinking supply system. But,
pursuant to proprietary powers granted uniformly
