With legislation that would enable a sales tax referendum moving forward, Matthews Mayor John Higdon is trying to tap the brakes and organize a meeting of elected officials for late October to discuss revamping Charlotte’s multi-billion dollar transportation plan.
The proposed legislation now has the support of Mecklenburg County and every municipality in the county except Matthews — which has been told by Charlotte officials it won’t get the Silver Line light rail. The city has promised bus rapid transit instead.
One of Higdon’s goals: tweaking the proposed funding formula, which is now 40% of new sales tax money for roads, 40% for rail transit and 20% for buses.
He said he wants slightly more money for trains, and in exchange, the plan could send more money to roads. That might keep it palatable to Republican lawmakers in Raleigh while still allowing more miles of the Silver Line to be built.
What if the money were divided with 45% for roads, 45% for rail transit and 10% for buses?
Higdon said a split like that “makes sense.” The town of Matthews says the “transit summit” is scheduled for Oct. 19 at the Valerie C. Woodard Center on Freedom Drive, where elected officials and managers will “discuss alternatives to the currently proposed transit/transportation tax funding model.”
But he’s facing opposition.
Mecklenburg commissioner Leigh Altman, who chairs the Metropolitan Transit Commission, said in a meeting Tuesday that Higdon’s meeting is a “political stunt.”
She then said the meeting is unnecessary because no concrete decisions have been made.
If Raleigh allows Mecklenburg to place the sales tax increase on the ballot, Altman said at that point “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.”
In response, Higdon said: “Throughout the process, we haven’t had an open and honest discussion among elected officials concerning the transit plan. I fail to see how having one now could be considered a ‘political stunt.’ ”
A change in role
A year ago, Altman was playing a more adversarial role as a commissioner. After it was revealed a Lynx Blue Line train had derailed with no public acknowledgment, Altman asked pointed questions of the Charlotte Area Transit System. Her relentless questioning drew the ire of some city officials, including Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles and City Council member Ed Driggs, who believed she was overstepping her authority and grandstanding.
Now, Altman is playing a different role.
She is trying to bring the transportation plan across the finish line, and her messaging is now in sync with Lyles and Driggs.
Their message: No final, real decisions have been made, and all the details can be worked out after getting Raleigh on board.
The problem is that the draft legislation spells out the funding split of 40-40-20. The city may bring that draft bill to state lawmakers in November — and it would be very hard to go back and change the split after it’s passed.
And a 40-40-20 split dictates what kind of plan Mecklenburg County will have.
Sending 40% of new sales tax money to roads is not what Charlotte originally wanted. In fact, original versions of the plan called for between 80% and 90% of new money to be dedicated to trains.
But after being told by Republican House Speaker Tim Moore and Republican Senate Leader Phil Berger that Charlotte needed a “roads first” plan, the city relented.
Some are still unhappy about sending 40% to roads, but many are making peace with the split. The group Sustain Charlotte, for instance, has said the new plan “isn’t perfect.” But it’s supporting it out of the belief that a good plan is better than no plan.
Mecklenburg Commissioner Susan Rodriguez-McDowell doesn’t like dedicating so much money to roads.
She asked Mecklenburg Manager Dena Diorio on Tuesday whether the funding split could be changed.
Diorio responded that she had been told by business leaders that it could not.
But Rodriguez-McDowell needed to ask a more succinct question: Could the city and county ask for more money for rail transit (45%) while also setting aside more money for roads (45%)?
Why would Republican lawmakers object to that?
She later voted against the resolution supporting the proposed legislation, along with Laura Meier and Pat Cotham.
Said Cotham: “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.”
The resolution passed 6-3.
Matthews is OK with less for buses
Going from 40% to 45% funding for rail transit would not provide enough money to build the $6 billion Silver Line from uptown to Matthews.
But it could help the city build a shorter Silver Line, from uptown to, say, Idlewild Road.
Matthews might get the Silver Line to its town in the next round of transit expansion, whenever that is.
But putting more money into roads and trains would mean there would be less money for buses.
Higdon said he’s OK with that. He doesn’t believe there’s enough money anyway to build what the city has called a “gold standard” bus rapid transit line to Matthews.
“Our buses will still be stuck in traffic,” he said.
Charlotte’s response: It’s too early to say. We will work out those details in the future — after getting approval from Raleigh.
