Town of Spruce Pine v. Avery County

WEBB, Justice.

Before reaching the merits of the case, we deal with the question of Avery County’s standing to challenge the constitutionality of the WSWPA. We held in In re Appeal of Martin, 286 N.C. 66, 209 S.E.2d 766 (1974), that a county may not challenge on constitutional grounds an exemption to the imposition of a personal property tax. We said a county may not tax property under a statute granting it authority to do so and at the same time attack another part of the statute as being unconstitutional.

In City of New Bern v. New Bern-Craven County Bd. of Educ., 328 N.C. 557, 402 S.E.2d 623…