Mecklenburg commissioners pass budget on party line vote

Mecklenburg county commissioners voted along party lines Tuesday night to pass a budget for next fiscal year, which starts July 1st.

All five Democrats voted yes and the four Republicans voted no.

The budget raises the tax burden on the majority of homeowners, saves some teacher jobs while cutting others, and increases the budgets for libraries and parks compared to last year.

The budget actually lowers the tax rate from the current 83.87 cents per $100 of property value down to 81.66 cents per $100 of property value.

But most folks will still see their tax bills go up, in some cases significantly, because of the recent revaluation process, which raised the tax value of most county homes.

To calculate your Mecklenburg tax bill under the new rate, paste the following line as a search on google.com -- (YOUR PROPERTY'S TAX VALUE HERE/100) x .8166

Hit "Enter" and Google will figure out what your new tax bill would be.

The county says 55.7% of Mecklenburg homeowners (179,954) will see their tax bills go up, while 44.3% (142,981) will see their tax bills go down.

The county manager originally proposed a slightly higher tax rate which would have made over 5000 more homeowners see an increase.

Republicans voted no, making good on a pledge not to support any budget that raises taxes on the average homeowner.

"Shame on us if we ever forget who pays the bills in this county," Republican Karen Bentley said of the tax burden.

Folks in towns in her district -- Huntersville, Cornelius, and Davidson -- will be among some of the hardest hit folks when it comes to tax bills.  People living in South Charlotte and Pineville, Matthews, and Mint Hill are also more likely to be hard hit.

Democrats said the budget strikes a balance between taxes and the need for services.

The budget gives CMS $26 million more than last year -- a significant increase but only about half the $50 million extra CMS asked for from county taxpayers.

The money is enough to save over 400 teaching positions at CMS, but it's possible hundreds of other teaching positions will be cut.

"We don't feel [the budget] goes far enough for education," Democratic commission chair Jennifer Roberts said.  "Our heart goes out to the hundreds of teachers that will still lose their jobs."

The county is also spending millions of dollars to fulfill promises previous boards made when times were much better.

For instance, again this year the county must fulfill a commitment of $1 million dollars a year to the U.S. National Whitewater Center.  The county promised the money for seven years if the Whitewater Center needed it to stay fiscally sound -- and the center has wound up needing it every single year so far, with two more years to go after this one.

The county is also now entering the second year of a five year commitment of money towards the Wells Fargo Cultural Campus on South Tryon Street -- which includes the Knight Theater, Harvey Gantt Center, Bechtler Museum of Modern Art, and the new Mint Museum.

The county has committed nearly $3 million a year to the cultural campus.