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Commissioners consider transit tax hike

By Melissa Hankins - bio l email

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Would you pay higher taxes to expand the light rail?

The Mecklenburg County Commission may propose a hike to fund two rail projects.

This was a big issue in 2007 -- a fierce debate over whether to keep or repeal the existing half cent sales tax.

Well, this measure would double the tax.

And opposition is already building.

Early next week the board will meet to debate the issue, if they decide they like the idea, they'll have to get state approval to seek the tax hike.

But we heard from Charlotte residents today who think the idea's insane...not because they don't like the new light rail...but because of the economy.

"Our county commissioners are so out of touch with what's going on in society," says Charlotte resident Craig Nannini. "Here in Charlotte we have an unemployment rate of ten and a half percent. They're talking next year it's going to be around thirteen. The shoe hasn't dropped on the bank layoffs yet...and they're talking about increasing taxes on those of us who are struggling already."

But Mecklenburg County Commission Chair Jennifer Roberts is pursuing the idea, because she says expanding our transit system is crucial for environmental reasons.

It's about air quality. We absolutely have an air quality problem," Roberts says. "Anybody who has asthma feels it on high ozone days. We are out of attainment for the EPA, and if we don't make positive steps forward, the federal government is going to put restrictions on our business operations."

And that is why Roberts thinks the county needs to travel full steam ahead with transit plans, even though currently it can't afford to.

"With the way our economy is, sales tax revenues are down, we are going to delay the building out of our transit system by ten, fifteen years," Roberts says, "if we don't find another source of revenue."

CATS has two new rail lines it really wants to build: an 11 mile light-rail extension here to University City that would cost over a billion dollars, and a 25 mile commuter rail line here to Lake Norman that would cost about $375 million.

The problem is CATS can't build them both at the same time, like it planned to, unless at least one of three scenarios happens: CATS receives a whole lot of federal stimulus money, the economy suddenly springs back, or our mass transit tax doubles.

The same people who put together the Tea Party to protest stimulus-related tax hikes, say they will be gathering to protest the transit tax proposal on Tuesday here at the Government Center.

That's when county commissioners will debate the issue.