Who is and isn't backing the roads/transit tax

Mecklenburg County voters will decide in November whether to increase the sales tax by one cent, to 8.25%, to pay for a multibillion-dollar roads and transit plan. With three months until the referendum, the tax has so far produced some unusual political alliances.

WFAE Morning Edition host Marshall Terry spoke with WFAE’s Steve Harrison about who is and isn’t supporting the tax.

Marshall Terry: Steve, before we get to who is on which team, tell me briefly about the plan.

Steve Harrison: The plan calls for 40% of new sales tax money to go for roads. Forty percent would go to rail transit, most notably the Red Line commuter rail line to Lake Norman. And 20% would go to buses and a new on-demand service called “microtransit,” which is like Uber.

The city of Charlotte has estimated the tax would cost the average household in the county about $240 a year. The city says low-income residents would pay about $130 a year,

Terry: OK, let’s start with the people who are in support of the tax. Who’s on that team?

Harrison: Marshall, last week Mecklenburg commissioners voted 8-1 to place the tax on the November ballot, and supporters packed the Government center. Many were wearing white T-shirts that said “YES FOR MECK.”

And they came from a pretty wide cross section of the county: you had activists, political leaders, religious leaders and people from the nonprofit world.

Here’s Sherry Chisholm from the group Leading on Opportunity.

"Tonight, I ask you to let voters decide whether they want to invest just a little more at the register to build a region where their children’s children thrive, where we can continue improving."

Harrison: And that message was repeated throughout the night: Charlotte is growing, and we need to invest in more ways to help people get around.

Terry: But I understand some of the biggest supporters or at least the most influential supporters — are Republicans.

Harrison: That’s right. One reason is that the transit tax needed approval from the Republican-controlled General Assembly in Raleigh, so you had local Republicans playing a big role: City Council member Ed Driggs; attorney Larry Shaeen, who helped write the draft legislation; and Mecklenburg state House member Tricia Cotham, who sponsored the bill known as the PAVE Act.

And the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance is leading a $3 million campaign to get voters to approve the tax. The alliance is nonpartisan, but its members are from the business community, which are more conservative than the county overall.

Terry: And at last week’s public hearing, were there people who voted against the plan based solely on not wanting to raise taxes?

Harrison: Very, very few. When Mecklenburg votes, it’s likely that many conservative voters will vote against the tax in November, just based on their philosophy and the results from past tax referendums. But Republicans have become such a small portion of the electorate here that they just aren’t engaged in local politics like they were 15 or 20 years ago.

Terry: OK, so we have Republicans leading the charge for the tax. Who is opposing it?

Harrison: So last year, the Mayor of Matthews, John Higdon, was leading the charge against the tax because the plan wouldn’t bring the Silver Line light rail to the town. He still opposes the tax, but has taken a step back, and didn’t speak at the public forum.

The squeakiest wheels are now from some progressive Democrats, who say the plan isn’t doing enough for low-income residents. This includes former mayor Jennifer Roberts, former City Council member Braxton Winston and Robert Dawkins of Action NC.

Terry: And they picked up a new ally over the weekend.

Harrison: They did. Prominent civil rights leader William Barber, who became famous leading the Moral Monday movement against the Republicans in the legislature last decide, gave a sermon at First Baptist Church West in Charlotte.

He said the sales tax would hurt low-income people because it’s regressive, and the Mecklenburg County residents have already had recent property tax increases.

"They said the bus will come a few minutes faster. Well if the bus comes faster but you have to pay more both in terms of the fee and the tax and if the bus comes faster just to take you to a low-wage job cause the politicians won’t fight for you to have a living wage. If you don’t think the church shouldn’t be talking about this, you don’t understand what Jesus said."

Harrison: So there is some movement against the tax, but so far, the opposition doesn’t seem to have much money to get its message out.