Our take on the recent transportation tax proposal

After years of debate about the Red Line and a one-cent sales tax for transportation investments countywide, signs of real progress have surfaced in recent days — though there is still room for improvement. Here’s our take.

First, Norfolk Southern has agreed to sell the O-Line railroad tracks needed to build the Red Line, which would connect Charlotte, Huntersville, Cornelius, and Davidson by rail. This line was part of the original 2030 Transit Plan and remains a critical part of the existing transit plan.

The Charlotte City Council is scheduled to vote on a contract to purchase these tracks on September 3. We support this purchase and strongly urge council members to approve it. 

Second, a draft of state legislation that would authorize Mecklenburg County to place a one-cent sales tax for transportation on the 2025 ballot was made public last week. This must be approved by state lawmakers. The elected boards of all of the municipalities in Mecklenburg County are being asked to endorse this legislation to demonstrate local support for it to state lawmakers. The City of Charlotte is scheduled to vote on it on September 3.

This legislation is not everything we wanted. It allocates more to road projects and less to transit than is needed by requiring that 40% of the sales tax revenue be used for road projects, up to 40% for rail, and the remaining 20% for buses. The allocation is a political compromise in an attempt to satisfy state lawmakers who do not represent Mecklenburg County but want more of the tax spent on roads. 

Yet this compromise will make it more difficult, if not impossible, to build the current Mecklenburg County transit plan, which was approved by the Metropolitan Transit Commission (MTC) after significant public input.

In fact, it has been suggested that because of the 40% cap on funding for rail projects, the portion of the Silver Line between uptown Charlotte and Matthews cannot be built as rail. This possibility has led, understandably, to the Town of Matthews voting Monday night (August 12) to oppose the proposed sales tax legislation. We empathize with them, as a light rail line to Matthews has been the plan for years, and decisions and investments have been made based on that plan.  

However, no decision about the Silver Line has been made and we urge decision-makers across the region to work together and explore every option to build this line as planned. If this section of the Silver Line is never realized, it will limit transportation options and economic development not only for residents of Matthews but also for the many thousands of residents of East Charlotte.  

We also would like to see all municipalities commit funds to mitigating the displacement of existing residents and ensuring affordable housing in the neighborhoods through which new rail lines will run. Not doing this for the Blue Line led to displacement, and we must not repeat this mistake.

It is also essential that these funds be allocated in a way that not only benefits all municipalities equitably but also equitably within each municipality. Investments must be used to correct current inequities in access to transportation choices that have resulted from past decades of underinvestment and transportation decisions. 

So, while the proposed legislation is imperfect and a commitment is needed to ensure the investments made possible by the sales tax benefits everyone, we support it and encourage the elected leaders of the City of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, and the towns of Mecklenburg County to support it as well.  

Our inability to coalesce around funding has caused us to fall further behind in providing residents with the safe, affordable, efficient, and clean transportation choices they deserve. Walking away from this legislation would mean further delaying vital investments that are already long overdue and the costs associated with inaction will only continue to grow. It is time to act.

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