The local reaction to Gov. Mike Easley’s withholding of hundreds of millions of dollars in tax reimbursements isn’t over, not by a long shot.

Many Raleigh politicos thought the furor would die down last month after the General Assembly fashioned a budget package that would give localities the ability to replace some of their lost revenues with a new, “temporary” half-cent sales tax. After all, the N.C. League of Municipalities and the N.C. Association of County Commissioners had sought the additional sales-tax authority for years. The lobbying effort had been particularly important to major jurisdictions such as Cumberland and Durham counties with lots of land off the property tax rolls as nonprofit or government properties. Surely, it was thought, the higher sales tax would placate angry local politicians and taxpayers.

Surely not.

First of all, not every county is going along with the legislature’s devious plan, which essentially involved forcing local government to raise taxes to pay for state programs that lawmakers refused to cut. So far, five counties – Cabarrus, Henderson, Craven, Pamlico, and Johnston – have opted not to impose the new tax. For a time, at least, their sales tax rates will stay at 6.5 percent compared to the 7 percent rate elsewhere in the state (except for Mecklenburg, now at 7.5 percent with an extra levy for mass transit). Other counties in the coming days may pass on the tax, as well.

Part of the explanation is political. There are county commissioners running for reelection or higher office. They don’t want to raise taxes just days before facing the voters. Part of the explanation may also be economic, as counties with big retail developments seek an advantage in attracting shoppers. Another factor, though, is ire. Many of these local leaders are furious at being used and abused. It shows in their fiery rhetoric (outgoing Cabarrus County Commissioner Arne Fennel called Easley a “terrorist”).

It also shows in their increasing willingness to ignore the Easley administration’s thinly veiled threats, the editorial position of most of the state’s news media, and the wishes of the aforementioned League of Municipalities and county commissioners’ association. According to this report in the Jacksonville Daily News (see: http://www.jdnews.com/Details.cfm?StoryID=7869), attorney Gene Boyce is now representing 17 local governments who are suing Easley’s revenue secretary to recover all or some of the withheld revenues. He told the Onslow County Commission, currently deciding whether to join in, that 28 other localities may join the lawsuit in the coming weeks.

Flying somewhat under the capital’s political radar screen, Boyce’s lawsuit is at the leading edge of what may become a revolution against Raleigh, against fiscal mismanagement and excessive state power. I know a number of legislative candidates, Democrats and Republicans, who are talking about the need for a fundamental restructuring of the relationship between state government and local government. Expect to hear more about the subject when the newly elected legislature comes to town in December.