Can the clerk of superior court, or local landowners, dissolve a NC drainage district that has served its purpose, or does dissolution require action by the General Assembly?

Plain-English summary

Will R. Crocker, the Clerk of Superior Court for Johnston County, asked the Attorney General how to dissolve Johnston County Drainage District #1 (the Moccasin Creek Watershed district). The district had served its purpose and landowners wanted it dissolved.

Senior Deputy Attorney General Daniel C. Oakley and Associate Attorney General James P. Longest, Jr. gave a short answer: the clerk cannot do it, and neither can the landowners. Drainage district dissolution requires action by the General Assembly.

The reasoning has two steps.

Step 1: Chapter 156 is silent on dissolution. The Drainage Districts Law authorizes landowners to petition the clerk to create a drainage district (G.S. 156-56 et seq.). The statute is silent about dissolving one. Under standard NC statutory construction, a statute that grants a specific power to create something does not, by implication, grant a power to undo it.

Step 2: The NC Constitution puts dissolution authority in the General Assembly. Once properly created, a drainage district becomes a quasi-public corporation. State ex rel. East Lenoir Sanitary District v. Lenoir, 249 N.C. 96 (1958), confirmed this status. Articles VII and VIII of the NC Constitution give the General Assembly complete authority to create, control, and dissolve public and quasi-public corporations. Ward v. Elizabeth City, 121 N.C. 1 (1897), confirmed the dissolution authority specifically.

So the answer for Johnston County was: either get the General Assembly to amend Chapter 156 to add a general dissolution procedure, or get the General Assembly to pass a special or local act dissolving this particular district. Either approach works; both require legislative action.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1994. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Chapter 156 of the General Statutes (drainage districts) has been amended over the years. It is possible the General Assembly has since added a general dissolution mechanism that did not exist in 1994. Anyone facing a current drainage district dissolution question should pull current Chapter 156 and check for any general dissolution provision before assuming a special act is the only path.

Common questions

Q: What is a drainage district?
A: A special-purpose political subdivision created under Chapter 156 to administer a drainage project, typically the construction and maintenance of canals, ditches, or similar works that drain a watershed. Drainage districts have taxing authority (assessments on benefited land) and own the drainage infrastructure.

Q: Why isn't a drainage district just a private association?
A: Because creation imposes assessments and grants eminent domain authority that ordinary private associations don't have. The statutory creation procedure, the use of the clerk's office, and the financial mechanics all stamp the district as a quasi-public entity. Once it has that status, the NC Constitution governs how it can be dissolved.

Q: What does "quasi-public corporation" mean?
A: It is an entity created by the state that exercises some governmental functions (assessment, eminent domain, infrastructure operation) but operates primarily for the benefit of a defined group of property owners rather than the general public. NC courts have classified drainage districts, sanitary districts, and similar special-purpose entities this way.

Q: Could the landowners just stop paying assessments?
A: That would not dissolve the district; it would just leave the district unable to operate and likely trigger collection actions. The district as a legal entity would continue to exist, with all its statutory powers and obligations, until the General Assembly dissolved it.

Q: What is a "special or local act"?
A: A statute that addresses only a specific named entity rather than applying generally. NC has a long history of special and local acts dealing with individual cities, counties, and districts. The NC Constitution restricts some categories of special legislation (Article II, § 24 prohibits local laws on certain subjects), but the dissolution of a specific drainage district likely does not fall within those prohibited categories.

Q: Why did the Moccasin Creek district need to be dissolved at all?
A: Drainage districts often have a useful life tied to a specific project. Once the original canals are built and maintained for the originally benefited land, the project's purpose may be served. If land use has changed (development supplants agriculture, for instance), the district's continued existence and assessment authority can become a burden rather than a benefit.

Q: Could the General Assembly delegate dissolution authority back to the clerk?
A: Yes. The General Assembly could amend Chapter 156 to add a procedure (petition to the clerk, notice to landowners, hearing, and dissolution upon findings) that would let the clerk dissolve a district in defined circumstances. That would still be legislative authorization; the AG's point was that the General Assembly had not yet done so by 1994.

Background and statutory framework

Chapter 156 of the NC General Statutes governs drainage. Article 5 covers Drainage Districts: how they are organized, how the works are constructed, how assessments are levied, and how the district operates. G.S. 156-54 covers some aspects of district administration. G.S. 156-56 et seq. covers the creation petition process. None of the provisions in 1994 spoke to dissolution.

The NC Constitution's allocation of corporate-creation-and-dissolution power to the General Assembly is longstanding. Article VIII deals with corporations generally. Article VII deals with local government and quasi-public entities. The NC Supreme Court in Ward v. Elizabeth City (1897) confirmed that the General Assembly's power to dissolve corporations is plenary. East Lenoir Sanitary District v. Lenoir (1958) confirmed that a sanitary district is a quasi-public corporation within the scope of those constitutional provisions, and the same reasoning applies to drainage districts.

The AG's structural point is one of separation of powers. The General Assembly created the legal mechanism for forming drainage districts but kept dissolution to itself. The clerk of court, who serves as the local administrative officer in creation, does not have power to undo what the General Assembly chose to control. The landowners who petitioned for creation similarly have no statutory or constitutional path to dissolve. The route is back through the General Assembly.

Citations

• N.C.G.S. Ch. 156, Art. 5 (Drainage Districts)
• N.C.G.S. § 156-54 (district administration)
• N.C.G.S. § 156-56 et seq. (creation petition procedure)
• N.C. Const. art. VII (local government and quasi-public entities)
• N.C. Const. art. VIII (corporations)
• State ex rel. East Lenoir Sanitary District v. Lenoir, 249 N.C. 96, 105 S.E.2d 411 (1958) (sanitary district as quasi-public corporation)
• Ward v. Elizabeth City, 121 N.C. 1, 27 S.E. 993 (1897) (General Assembly's power to dissolve corporations)

Source

• Landing page: https://ncdoj.gov/opinions/johnston-county-drainage-district-1-moccasin-creek-watershed-dissolution-of-districts/

Original opinion text

August 18, 1994

Will R. Crocker Clerk of Superior Court-Johnston County Johnston County Courthouse

P.O. Box 297 Smithfield, N.C. 27577-0297

RE: Advisory Opinion: Johnston County Drainage District #1-Moccasin Creek Watershed; Dissolution of Districts under G.S. 156-54 et seq.

Dear Mr. Crocker,

We have received your request for an advisory opinion regarding the above referenced drainage district. If we understand your question, you wish to know how to dissolve a drainage district which has already served its purpose. Please find attached a copy of your written request.

Chapter 156 of the North Carolina General Statutes allows landowners to petition the Clerk of Court to create a drainage district. See G.S. 156-56 et seq.. It is our opinion that there is no statutory authority for the clerk or local landowners to dissolve a drainage district after its creation. Once properly created, a drainage district becomes a quasi-public corporation. Articles VII and VIII of the North Carolina Constitution give the General Assembly complete authority to create, control and dissolve public and quasi-public corporations. See State ex rel. East Lenoir Sanitary Dist. v. Lenoir, 249 N.C. 96, 105 S.E.2d 411 (1958). Article VIII of the North Carolina Constitution gives the General Assembly the power to dissolve all types of corporations. See Ward v. Elizabeth City, 121 N.C. 1, 27 S.E. 993 (1897). In the absence of legislative authority in the drainage districts law, a special or local act abolishing this particular drainage district appears proper. It is our opinion that either an amendment to the drainage districts law or a special act is necessary in order to dissolve this drainage district.

Daniel C. Oakley Senior Deputy Attorney General

James P. Longest, Jr.

Associate Attorney General