‘Future of transit’ in Mecklenburg delayed: Sales tax referendum unlikely this year
Charlotte is quickly running out of time to get sales tax funding for its $13.5 billion transit plan on the ballot this year, local leaders say.
“That window is closing,” Charlotte Regional Business Alliance chief advocacy and strategy officer Kelly O’Brien told the Observer.
Officials have publicly pushed for the sales tax in recent months, but have declined to outline a timeline for making the plan a reality. Now, Charlotte leaders say residents may need to wait until 2023 to vote on a referendum on this issue.
The earliest that Mecklenburg residents could vote on whether to support the proposed 1-cent sales tax would be in the local election in November. But the referendum has to secure authorization from the state legislature before it can appear on the ballot.
That would likely need to happen before the short session of the NC General Assembly ends, Charlotte Mayor Pro Tem Julie Eiselt said. That session starts next month and could wrap up by the end of June.
“That’s the time frame,” she said. “So a lot has to happen.”
Charlotte Council Member Ed Driggs agreed, saying that it’s “very unlikely” the sales tax will show up on the ballot this year. There’s a lot of work Charlotte leaders would need to do in a short time, he said.
“We need to have a clearer understanding with the legislature about how this transportation system benefits Charlotte, the region and therefore the state,” he said. “We need to have a clearer picture of what would be in (the referendum).”
And officials need buy-in from Mecklenburg residents and surrounding towns, he said.
The northern Mecklenburg towns would need to signal publicly that they are interested in the countywide sales tax, Eiselt said. “In practical terms, that might be hard to accomplish,” she said.
A $13.5 billion transit plan
There’s a lot riding on the sales tax for Mecklenburg residents.
“The future of transit is dependent on a source of revenue,” Eiselt said. “And there is no large enough source of revenue except for the sales tax.”
The sales tax referendum is part of a $13.5 billion program to expand mobility in Charlotte, with more frequent bus routes, extended greenways, improved sidewalks, a new, 29-mile east-to-west light rail line and the long-awaited 25-mile commuter rail line to north Mecklenburg.
The 1-cent sales tax hike, which would not apply to groceries or medications, could raise $6.6 billion over 30 years, the Charlotte MOVES Tax Force predicted.
Officials including Eiselt, Driggs and O’Brien visited Austin, Texas, in March to learn about that city’s changes to its transportation system. That includes the results of a 2020 vote in Austin to approve a $7.1 billion transit plan, funded in part by a roughly 4% property tax increase.
Austin previously failed to pass two other transit referendums, O’Brien said. Learning how the city successfully passed the 2020 vote was a key part of the trip to Austin.
Austin officials told Charlotte leaders that buy-in from residents and making sure residents understood exactly what the funds would do for transportation was a key part in making that a reality, O’Brien said.
“There needs to be a consensus about the fact that this huge investment is warranted,” Driggs said. “And it’s quite a substantial tax increase... It’s important that we reach a consensus that we’re ready now to go ahead. And what we also learned in Austin was that the community needed to be prepared.”
So it’s unlikely voters will see the sales tax referendum on this year’s ballot. But voters could see more progress made in time for a 2023 vote, Driggs said.
“I certainly think the next thing if we don’t get it done this year, is that we will want to get it done next year,” he said.
This story was originally published April 11, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
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