Commissioner: Referendum possible to repeal Meck’s sales tax for transit

Mecklenburg County commissioner Jim Puckett said Saturday he will consider leading an effort to repeal the county’s half-cent sales tax for transit if a regional planning group continues its support Interstate 77 toll lanes.

The Huntersville Republican said a group of Lake Norman businessmen opposed to the toll lanes asked him about getting a referendum on the November ballot. The referendum would ask for a yes or no vote on repealing the tax.

Some of the sales tax proceeds for transit were supposed to benefit the Lake Norman area by helping pay for the now-stalled Red Line commuter rail project from Charlotte to southern Iredell County.

Puckett said he was just a citizen when he helped get a referendum on the 2007 ballot asking for a similar vote on repealing the tax. The measure failed 70 percent to 30 percent, but Puckett figures he has a 50-50 chance of helping get the tax repealed this time around.

That’s in part because elected officials in Huntersville, Cornelius and Davidson opposed the 2007 tax repeal effort since plans for commuter rail were still alive, he said. And current elected officials in those communities are against the controversial I-77 toll lanes, he added.

Also, Matthews voters expected the sales tax for transit to provide bus rapid transit lanes along Independence Boulevard, but toll lanes are planned instead, he said.

This story was originally published January 9, 2016 at 5:44 PM with the headline "Commissioner: Referendum possible to repeal Meck’s sales tax for transit."