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Let’s make 2025 the year we transform transportation in Mecklenburg County

One Cent

At Sustain Charlotte, we are hopeful that 2025 will be the year when the North Carolina state legislature finally authorizes the long-awaited one-cent sales tax for mobility and that Mecklenburg County voters will approve it in November. For more than five years, we have advocated for this crucial funding source to address our region’s urgent transportation challenges. Here’s why: 

  • Our transportation network has not kept pace with our rapid population growth, failing to provide safe, affordable, and convenient options for those who do not drive or would like a better alternative than driving and sitting in traffic. This creates significant inequities. 
  • Car dependency limits access to essential services like jobs, medical care, and groceries for lower-income residents who cannot afford a car, as well as for those who are too young, too old, or physically unable to drive. 
  • Meanwhile, traffic congestion and vehicle emissions have led to unhealthy air quality, making transportation the largest source of climate pollution in our region.

The one-cent sales tax offers a promising path forward. By securing this funding, we can invest in solutions that ensure healthy, affordable, equitable, and connected communities throughout Mecklenburg County. This includes completing the long-delayed Red Line rail project between Charlotte and Davidson—a critical step made possible by the City’s recent purchase of the necessary tracks.

For years, partisan divides and competing priorities have stalled progress. However, we are now closer than ever to a solution. Draft legislation enabling Mecklenburg County to put this tax on the ballot is currently under consideration in the state legislature, with an opportunity for lawmakers to act as soon as February. 

We will continue to encourage local business leaders and elected officials to voice their support for the authorization and, if it passes, we’ll work tirelessly to encourage Mecklenburg County voters to support the tax. 

This is the moment for state and local leaders to come together, authorize this vital funding tool, and allow voters to decide. Let’s make 2025 the year we take this pivotal step toward a transportation network that works for everyone.

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