A sales tax increase to pay for transportation projects advanced Tuesday after Mecklenburg County commissioners capped off rounds of votes from local governments to support draft legislation to put the measure on the ballot.
The county board voted 6-3 on a resolution asking the General Assembly to consider draft legislation put together by the managers of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the county’s towns. Commissioners Laura Meier, Pat Cotham and Susan Rodriguez-McDowell voted against the resolution.
Meier made a motion to delay the vote until local elected officials hold a summit proposed by Matthews Mayor John Higdon. But the summit idea was voted down Tuesday along the same lines.
“I just want to vote for this because I support it,” Meier said of the resolution. ”But in the end, I need to know more.”
Now, the N.C. General Assembly will decide whether to allow Mecklenburg residents to vote on a referendum to increase the county’s sales tax by 1 cent to pay for transportation needs.
The draft bill would create a new 27-member transit authority that would take over governance of the Charlotte Area Transit System from Charlotte and the Metropolitan Transit Commission. It caps spending on light rail, commuter rail and streetcar projects at 40% of the new sales tax revenue. Spending on buses — including bus rapid transit, micro-transit and mobility hubs — would be capped at 20% of revenue, leaving 40% of the new money for roads.
That funding breakdown could jeopardize the eastern portion of the Silver Line, rankling some in east Charlotte and Matthews. But other communities in the county touted the infusion of spending on roads as an opportunity.
County Manager Dena Diorio told commissioners conversations about changing the funding breakdown or increasing the size of the sales tax increase were “not received well” by legislators.
Here’s how local municipalities voted on the plan and what’s next:
Charlotte backs deal, buys Red Line tracks
The Charlotte City Council voted 10-1 Sept. 3 to support the legislation, with Council member Tariq Bokhari the only “no” vote.
Bokhari, one of two Republicans on the council, questioned whether the GOP-dominated state legislature will sign off on the bill.
“We are setting ourselves up for failure by not being precise,” he said.
Multiple council members who voted for the draft bill said it was a “difficult” decision. They cited concerns about a lack of transparency during negotiations and the new governance model for public transit in the legislation, and frustration in east Mecklenburg about the future of the Silver Line rail project.
Charlotte also voted to spend $91 million to purchase railroad tracks from Norfolk Southern for the Red Line commuter rail project.
North Mecklenburg towns tout Red Line, roads investments
North Mecklenburg communities have waited years for the Red Line, which will run to Mecklenburg’s northern border with Iredell County.
Leaders of all three of the region’s towns — Cornelius, Davidson and Huntersville — voted to back the draft legislation that could make it happen.
“The potential sales tax will deliver the Red Line … A new sales tax will bring a vital resource to our community that reliably connects us to one another and to destinations like the airport and uptown Charlotte. This connectivity is crucial to our economic development, infrastructure development, and our quality of life,” the towns’ three mayors said in a joint letter earlier this month.
In the letter, the mayors said the sales tax revenue could also “further progress critical road projects throughout the area” and “accelerate new road projects and many pedestrian and cyclist safety improvements.”
South Mecklenburg towns like roads, too
To the south, both Pineville and Mint Hill’s town leaders voted to back the draft legislation.
They also expressed excitement about the potential impacts of an expanded source of funding for transportation, particularly for roads.
Pineville Town Manager Ryan Spitzer told town leaders the bill would lead to a “really big investment on roads.” Mint Hill leaders noted the 1-cent increase could generate as much as $6 million a year for road projects in the town.
What about Matthews?
Matthews is the lone municipality to vote against the transit deal. Commissioners voted unanimously in August to oppose the legislation, which they called an “underfunded” and “reprehensible” plan.
They’re concerned the funding breakdown will lead to the elimination of all or some of the Silver Line rail project, which is slated to run through east Mecklenburg into the town.
“Matthews is obviously not in favor at all, because we’re getting a deal that everybody in the county is getting but getting with light rail while we’ll be getting bus rapid transit,” Higdon, the mayor, told the Observer after the town’s vote. “Buses don’t work like they are promising.”
Bus rapid transit, which involves running buses in dedicated lanes or busways that often have traffic signal priority, elevated platforms and enhanced stations, has been floated as a potential alternative for the corridor.
More than 20 elected officials and members of the business community traveled to Miami in late August to see progress on its BRT system, but Higdon declined to go on the trip.
“I just don’t have any faith that a gold-rated bus rapid transit system could be built here,” he said at the time.
What’s next for transit deal?
The draft legislation is now in the hands of the N.C. General Assembly, which needs a member to introduce the bill. Then it’ll have to pass through the House and Senate.
State Sen. Vickie Sawyer, one of three Senate transportation chairs and a supporter of the Red Line, told the Observer in early August she doesn’t think legislation on a sales tax increase “will move at all” this year. It could get a look in the 2025 legislative session, the Iredell County Republican said, but she’s doubtful it could gain traction in the Republican caucus.
“I’m just not hearing a lot of great things about it,” she said at the time. “... It’s just very difficult to get our caucus behind a tax increase.”
Charlotte’s goal is to put the sales tax referendum on the ballot in November 2025.
Charlotte City Council member Ed Driggs said during the council’s vote in early September he’s “hopeful” the bill will be taken up but is “not taking anything for granted.”
If things move forward, it’ll be up to the Metropolitan Transit Commission or a new transit authority to decide what transit projects will be prioritized and what mode of transportation they will entail.
A referendum, Driggs noted, ultimately leaves the decision on whether to increase the sales tax to voters.
“It will not pass unless the people in Mecklenburg like what they see,” he said.
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