Mecklenburg County Commissioners voted 6-3 on Tuesday night to ask the North Carolina General Assembly for authority to put a one-cent sales tax on the ballot in Nov. 2025 to fund the Red Line commuter rail to northern Mecklenburg and Mooresville, as well as other road and transportation projects like the Silver Line light rail. County Manager Dena Diorio told commissioners the vote is not the end of the process.
"If the legislation is ultimately approved, then the county commission again gets to vote on whether or not to actually put that on the ballot. So this is really the first part of the process, not the last part of the process. Even if we put it on the ballot and it's approved by the voters, then you have to adopt a resolution to actually levy the tax. So Mecklenburg County is in total control," she said.
All local municipalities have supported the plan except Matthews, which is against it because it would replace rail with bus rapid transit there.
Three commissioners voted no.
The biggest sticking point of the proposed plan is that the city of Charlotte told Matthews it would get bus-rapid transit instead of light rail.
That was one reason why commissioners Susan Rodriguez-McDowell, Laura Meier and Pat Cotham voted no. The other six voted yes.
"I certainly want to slow this down because there is a lot to talk about. And we have not been included. And I resent that," said Cotham.
Matthews Mayor John Higdon is trying to organize a meeting of elected officials on Oct. 19 to discuss the plan. One thing he wants: Changing the funding formula to have more money for rail transit.
Mecklenburg Commissioner Leigh Altman was dismissive.
"But this transportation summit is a little bit of a political stunt," she said.
She said no decisions have been made.
"We will engage in a thorough and searching revamp of the transit plan and that will be the opportunity for the kind of input I think the mayor of Matthews is envisioning," she said.
But the city of Charlotte has said it wants to bring a draft bill to state lawmakers soon, possibly in November. That means it might be too late to change the funding split of 40% for roads, 40% for rail transit and 20% for bus.
