Another N.C. county government is trying to convince voters to support a local tax hike, but John Locke Foundation researchers are offering evidence that Avery County doesn’t need a land-transfer tax increase. Research Director and Local Government Analyst Michael Sanera led the team that highlighted $10 million in existing revenue and savings the county government could use to meet its needs. A member of that team, Education Policy Analyst Terry Stoops, earned media time this week in a Fayetteville Observer article about a controversy involving compensation packages for Cumberland County’s assistant school superintendents. Meanwhile, the Center for Competitive Politics highlighted the latest report from Legal and Regulatory Policy Analyst Daren Bakst, which spells out the unconstitutional nature of North Carolina’s taxpayer-financed election systems. Bakst’s analysis of North Carolina’s annexation law also has attracted attention from North Carolina Libertarians.