Local Government Agencies

Local government agencies in North Carolina include municipalities, counties, and regional entities. These organizations, along with any entities with whom they contract to perform the public business, are subject to the requirements of North Carolina’s Public Records Act (G.S. 132). The retention and disposition schedules that follow are the tools created by the Government Records Section to assist employees of local government agencies in managing the records in their offices. These schedules list records series commonly found in local government offices, provide an assessment of their value, and indicate when (and if) these records should be destroyed.

These schedules are an agreement between the local government agencies and the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR), serving as the inventory and schedule that DNCR is directed to provide by G.S. 121-5(c) and G.S. 132-8. Beginning in 2019, the Government Records Section excised common records standards, such as Legal and Personnel, from the individual retention and disposition schedules and combined them into the General Records Schedule for Local Government Agencies. All local government agencies should use the General Records Schedule for Local Government Agencies alongside the program schedule that covers the specific work assigned to your office.

These schedules must be approved by the local governing board before they can be used to authorize the destruction of public records. This approval should be made in a regular meeting and recorded as an action in the minutes. It may be accomplished as part of the consent agenda, by resolution, or by other action. Please send a copy of the completed signature page to the Records Analysis Unit, Government Records Section, 4615 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-4615 or fax it to 919-715-3627. If you have any questions about whether your agency has approved the current schedule, please contact a Records Management Analyst.

If you have records that you cannot find in your retention and disposition schedule, please contact a Records Management Analyst. The analyst will help determine whether there is an existing item on the schedule that specifies the disposition; if the records are not represented on the current schedule and are actively being maintained, the analyst can help you submit a Request for Change in Records Schedule. If there are unscheduled records that are no longer being created or received, the analyst will help determine whether the records have historical value or should receive permission for destruction. If the latter is true, we will ask you to complete a Request for Disposal of Unscheduled Records.