§ 105-523.  County hold harmless for repealed local taxes.

(a) Intent. - It is the intent of the General Assembly that each county be held harmless from the exchange of a portion of the local sales and use taxes for the State's agreement to assume the responsibility for the non-administrative costs of Medicaid.

(b) Definitions. - The following definitions apply in this section:

(1) City hold harmless amount. - The hold harmless amount determined under G.S. 105-522 for the eligible municipalities in a county.

(2) Hold harmless threshold. - The amount of a county's Medicaid service costs and Medicare Part D clawback payments assumed by the State under G.S. 108A-54 for the fiscal year. A county's Medicaid service costs for fiscal years 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and 2010-2011 are determined without regard to the changes made to the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage by section 5001 of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. A county's Medicaid service costs do not include any costs for newly eligible individuals as defined in G.S. 108A-145.3.

(3) Repealed sales tax amount. - The sum of the following amounts allocated for distribution to a county for a month. The references in this subdivision to Article 39 of this Chapter and Chapter 1096 of the 1967 Session Laws and Articles 40 and 42 of this Chapter do not include the adjustment made pursuant to G.S. 105-524. The amounts are as follows:

a. The amount of sales and use tax revenue allocated under G.S. 105-486. This calculation determines the effect of repealing a one-half percent (1/2%) sales and use tax distributed on a per capita basis.

b. An amount determined by subtracting twenty-five percent (25%) of the amount of sales and use tax revenue allocated under G.S. 105-472 or Chapter 1096 of the 1967 Session Laws from fifty percent (50%) of the amount of sales and use tax revenue allocated under G.S. 105-486. This calculation determines the effect of distributing a one-quarter percent (.25%) tax on the basis of point of origin instead of on a per capita basis.

(c) Requirement. - If a county's repealed sales tax amount plus its city hold harmless amount for a fiscal year exceeds the county's hold harmless threshold for that fiscal year, the State is required to hold the county harmless for the difference by paying the amount of the difference to the county. The Secretary must withhold from sales and use tax collections under Article 5 of this Chapter the amount needed to make the county hold harmless payments required by this section.

(d) Method. - The Secretary must estimate a county's repealed sales tax amount, city hold harmless amount, and hold harmless threshold for a fiscal year to determine if the county is eligible for a hold harmless payment. The Secretary must send to an eligible county with the distribution made under G.S. 105-472 for March of that year an amount equal to ninety percent (90%) of its estimated hold harmless payment. At the end of each fiscal year, the Secretary must determine each county's hold harmless payment for that year. The Secretary must send by August 15 the remainder of the county's hold harmless payment for the fiscal year that ended on June 30. The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services must give the Secretary of Revenue the data needed to determine a county's hold harmless threshold by February 24th of each year, and the data needed for the final calculation of each county's hold harmless threshold by July 24th of each year. (2007-323, s. 31.16.4(d); 2007-345, s. 14.4(b); 2008-134, s. 15(a), (d), (f), (h); 2009-399, s. 4(a); 2010-95, s. 14; 2014-100, s. 37.2(a)-(d); 2015-268, s. 10.1(e4); 2023-7, s. 1.7(p).)