Mecklenburg approved the transit tax. The real and harder work comes next | Opinion
It’s been a long road, but Mecklenburg County will finally be able to get to work on overhauling its transit system.
Voters approved a one-cent sales tax increase to fund a multibillion transit plan with long-awaited improvements to buses, rail and roadways. But now is the time for the real work to begin — and it’s more than just laying tracks and building bus stops.
It’s true that Mecklenburg County couldn’t afford to pass up this opportunity. Many of the improvements included in the plans are ones that should have been made long ago, including the Red Line, which is more than two decades in the making. As is often the case in Charlotte, the city’s current transit system just isn’t equipped to meet the needs of its population, and the shortcomings would have gotten worse as time passed. Tuesday’s result is a good thing.
But critics of the referendum weren’t wrong, either. The sales tax is regressive. There are legitimate concerns about displacement, the county’s ability to keep its promises and oversight of the plan’s spending and management. And while the referendum may have passed, it was far from a landslide victory. Referendums usually pass easily in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, but this one passed with slightly more than 52% of voters supporting it, according to unofficial results. That’s markedly lower than past transit referendums. In 2007, 70% of voters opted to keep the half-cent sales tax for transit. In 1998, when that half-cent sales tax was first approved, it passed with a 58% margin.
When it comes to transit, Mecklenburg County has a history of broken promises, and it’s not even clear if all of the promises included in this plan can be kept. In the case of the Red Line and the Silver Line, for example, the funding projections are reliant on the federal government matching a large portion, which isn’t guaranteed. There also have been promises already broken in the plan’s creation, including to east Charlotte and Matthews, who won’t see the benefits of light rail they expected.
That’s why Tuesday’s results show that entire portions of the county are skeptical of the referendum. That includes places like east Charlotte, Ballantyne, Matthews and Mint Hill, as well as west Charlotte and much of Cornelius and Huntersville. That opposition likely stems from a number of factors, including fractured trust and concerns about equity. How can our region’s future be truly successful if nearly half of voters don’t have faith in it?
With the approval of the sales tax increase, a new 27-member transit authority will be charged with deciding how to spend the sales tax proceeds. It will also oversee management of public transportation in the area. It’s the biggest accountability mechanism in the plan. In a matter of weeks, Charlotte City Council will make its 12 appointments to the board. Leaders are not obligated to include representation from the community, or even from those who actually rely on public transportation, but they should do so anyway. It’s an opportunity to prove to the referendum’s critics, as well as communities most burdened by the tax increase, that their concerns are being taken seriously by giving them a seat at the table.
There’s also work to be done with equity. Even those supportive of the plan have expressed concerns about displacement. Typically, gentrification can accelerate along light rail corridors and price out lower-income residents, particularly in Charlotte’s Black communities, which experienced it with the Blue Line and its extension. But with transit comes economic development, and communities not included along the rail corridors feel they’ll miss out on those opportunities. Coming up with a comprehensive plan to mitigate displacement is another way for leaders to slowly gain the trust of opponents worried about what the plan means for them.
City leaders and transit advocates shouldn’t stop engaging with the community now that they’re no longer asking for votes. It’s time to shift from advocacy to accountability.
Paige Masten is deputy opinion editor of the Charlotte Observer and a columnist for McClatchy’s North Carolina opinion team.
This story was originally published November 5, 2025 at 7:31 AM.
