With it appearing likely the full General Assembly will approve Mecklenburg County’s roads/transit bill, Mecklenburg County Commission Chair Mark Jerrell said Thursday he wants his colleagues to vote on Sept. 3 to place the 1-cent sales tax increase on the November ballot.
The tax increase would pay for the multi-billion-dollar transportation plan.
Jerrell’s comments came after the state House overwhelmingly this week passed Republican state Rep. Tricia Cotham’s bill to authorize a 1-cent sales tax to pay for the plan. The vote was 102-6. The roads/transit bill now goes to the Senate, where it’s likely to pass.
That’s a big win for Cotham, who narrowly won reelection last year in her swing district that covers Mint Hill, Matthews and part of south Charlotte. And it’s a big win for the city of Charlotte, which has been trying for five years to advance a transit plan.
Cotham’s new bill is different from the first bill that she filed. The old bill gave the would-be transit authority complete discretion on how to spend the 60% of the money dedicated for transit. The new bill prohibits it from spending no more than two-thirds of the money on rail transit.
That has angered some officials in Matthews, who won’t get the Silver Line light rail under the new bill that dedicates more money to buses.
The plan calls for 40% of the tax money to be spent on roads.
The Charlotte Area Transit System and the Metropolitan Transit Commission have voted on a new plan that would first build the Red Line commuter rail line to Lake Norman. After that, the plan calls for the tax money to build the Silver Line from the airport to Bojangles Coliseum, extend the streetcar and extend the Lynx Blue Line to Pineville.
The Charlotte Regional Business Alliance has already started running advertisements on social media promoting the roads/transit plan. Because local governments can’t advocate for the tax, the alliance is expected to take the lead in pushing the plan.
Mecklenburg commissioners could postpone the vote until the March 26 primary. But Jerrell said he wants to move quickly.
In other transit-related news, Matthews Commissioner Ken McCool announced this week he's running against Cotham next year for her state House district.
McCool is upset with Cotham’s bill that limits the amount of new tax money that can be spent on rail transit.
If McCool wins the Democratic primary in March, the race might bring transit into sharper focus.
