Mecklenburg County nearing historic sales tax vote. How have past elections gone?
Referendums like the one poised to appear on Mecklenburg County ballots this November faced mixed reactions from voters in recent decades.
Mecklenburg County commissioners are scheduled to vote Wednesday on whether to put a 1-cent sales tax increase to a vote on Election Day after the General Assembly passed legislation allowing the referendum.
The new tax revenue would fund a slate of road, rail and bus projects. Supporters say those billions will help alleviate traffic and build the long-awaited Red Line commuter rail to the Lake Norman area, while opponents still question how the money will be divided between different modes of transportation and the cost vs. benefit of a tax increase.
A similar referendum passed in the 1990s, and voters have stood by that tax in the face of efforts to repeal it.
But other efforts to increase the county’s tax rate to pay for public goods and services have failed in recent years.
Support for transportation tax in past referendums
Mecklenburg County voters approved a half-cent sales tax increase to pay for public transportation projects in 1998. That measure passed by a margin of 58% to 42% and laid the groundwork for the county’s current public transit system.
Opponents of that tax successfully petitioned to get a referendum repealing it on the ballot in 2007, but voters chose to save the tax by a margin of 70% to 30%.
Then-County Commissioner Jim Puckett in 2016 floated another referendum to repeal the 1998 tax if regional planners supported building toll lanes on Interstate 77. But that referendum never made it in front of voters.
Other tax increases see mixed results at ballot box
Referendums to increase the county’s sales tax to pay for other projects haven’t fared as well with voters in recent election cycles.
A 2014 ballot measure calling for a quarter-cent sales tax increase failed 61% to 39%. The new revenue generated by that tax increase would’ve gone to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Central Piedmont Community College, the Arts & Science Council and Charlotte Mecklenburg Library.
A similar quarter-cent increase referendum in 2019 aimed at generating more revenue for the arts, schools and parks and recreation failed with more than 57% of voters opposed. Supporters of that referendum had paid at least $1 million on TV and radio ads, targeted mailers and professional consultants, the Observer reported at the time.
Mecklenburg voters did back a record-setting $2.5 billion school bond in 2023 despite the bond triggering property tax increases in 2025, 2028 and 2029.
What will be on the 2025 ballot?
County commissioners will vote to put the 2025 transportation referendum on the ballot Wednesday, after holding a public hearing.
The board previously approved the language that will appear on the November ballot, asking voters whether they’re for or against a “One percent (1%) local sales and use taxes, in addition to the current local sales and use taxes, to be used only for roadway systems and public transportation systems.”
Commissioners Susan Rodriguez-McDowell and Laura Meier voted against that language, raising concerns it isn’t clear enough to voters that the measure would result in a tax increase.
This story was originally published August 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
