Three commissioners in the town of Matthews are planning to push for the town to rescind its opposition to the regional transit plan that Charlotte and all of the other towns in Mecklenburg County support.
Although Matthews has been viewed as strongly against the plan since the details emerged last summer — with Matthews commissioners voting unanimously in August to oppose it, after it became clear that a light rail line to Matthews is unlikely — some elected officials in the town of 31,000 in southern Mecklenburg now say they think voters should decide.
The shift means that the opposition of Matthews leaders to the transit plan, which had been assumed to be solid, is now a little shakier. That could help bolster arguments by transit proponents that the plan has widespread consensus in Mecklenburg. Backers are asking the state legislature to approve a referendum that, if approved by voters, would raise Mecklenburg’s sales tax from 7.25% to 8.25% and help fund a $25B expansion of transit and roads.
In an interview with The Ledger on Saturday, commissioner Mark Tofano said it is not a matter of changing his mind or being pressured to switch. Rather, he says, he and other commissioners were initially led to believe that Matthews residents would receive nothing from the deal while paying higher sales taxes.
“The bottom line is we were told that there would be absolutely nothing, either materially or financially, coming to Matthews if the sales tax was passed,” he said.
But in recent conversations with officials with the Charlotte Area Transit System and local elected leaders, he says he has learned that “it turns out there is quite a bit in it for Matthews and all of the municipalities,” such as annual payments for road construction and the possibility of express buses that could benefit town residents.
Tofano stressed that he is not taking a position backing or opposing the plan and the higher sales taxes it calls for, but rather supports the idea that voters should make an informed choice.
“What the three of us are going to do is withdraw the support from the original resolution and to make it known to the taxpayers that it is up to them to decide whether or not they want that 1-cent sales tax,” Tofano said. “We want to be purveyors of truth and supply all the information necessary for them to make an educated decision on whether they want it or not.”
He said fellow Matthews commissioners Gina Hoover and Leon Threatt have similar reservations about Matthews’ opposition. WSOC reported on Friday that Hoover, who is Matthews’ mayor pro tem, had “reversed her stance and now supports the proposed sales tax increase for transit.”
The station said she wrote in a letter to legislators that she was previously unaware that Matthews would receive millions annually for road improvements and that proponents estimate that 30% of sales taxes are paid by tourists.
Matthews is governed by a board of six commissioners plus its mayor, John Higdon, who has been the most outspoken critic. All voted in August in favor a resolution that declared Matthews was “steadfastly in opposition to the current sales tax legislation.”
At the August meeting in which Matthews leaders passed the resolution, there was no discussion of the road money the town would receive in the deal. Mecklenburg’s other towns have cited road money from the sales tax as being an important factor in their support, The Ledger’s Transit Time newsletter reported in September.
At the time, a Matthews spokeswoman told Transit Time that Matthews would receive “less than $5 million a year,” which would not “be a needle mover.” Matthews’ mayor has said the road money would improperly relieve the state of its road-building obligations.If you look at a map of the proposed transit expansions under the new transit plan, you’ll see that none of the proposed bus or rail lines runs anywhere near Mint Hill.