Mecklenburg County's transit referendum received a key approval Wednesday, with the Senate voting in favor of the legislation in a nearly unanimous vote.
The P.A.V.E. Act creates a 27-member transit authority and allows that authority to introduce a referendum to add a one percent sales tax in Mecklenburg County. That referendum could be on the ballot as soon as November.
If the tax is approved, it would raise nearly $400 million to spend on transportation projects annually, according to legislative staff estimates. Of those funds, 40% would be spent on surface transportation projects, 40% on rail projects and 20% on bus projects.
Sen. Mujtaba Mohammed said the measure is key to the future of not only Charlotte, but the county's smaller municipalities like Cornelius, Davidson and Huntersville. An average of 130 people move to the area each day, Mohammed said.
"They're bringing their talents, their small businesses, their dreams, their kids and, yes, all their cars. We are experiencing longer commutes, more car accidents, higher car insurance premiums, more pedestrian-related accidents and less revenue to address our crumbling critical infrastructure," Mohammed said on the Senate floor.
During committee meetings this week, Greater Charlotte-area Republicans had said they were having a hard time swaying some members of their caucus ahead of the General Assembly leaving later this week for much of the summer.
They were seemingly successful, with the Senate voting in favor of the legislation by a margin of 42 to 4, with four Republicans casting votes against it.
An unfair boost to Mecklenburg projects?
Some members of the Republican caucus were particularly concerned whether the additional funds introduced via the additional sales tax could be used to give Mecklenburg County projects an unfair advantage for state transportation funding.
To that end, Sen. Vickie Sawyer, R-Iredell, introduced an amendment in the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday saying the N.C. Department of Transportation should not revise its highway project selections based on the local funding.
Sawyer said the amendment was to address concerns raised by other municipalities in Iredell and Union counties. Those counties are part of the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization, along with Mecklenburg.
Sen. Todd Johnson, R-Union, raised the concerns Tuesday in the Senate Finance Committee.
"When we get into situations where a tax like this could potentially be used to, for lack of a better term, juice projects that are on the STIP, it causes great concerns for those who are not allowed to participate in said tax," Johnson said in the Finance Committee.
On the Senate floor Wednesday, Johnson introduced another amendment giving the state auditor the ability to audit how funds raised by the transit tax are being spent and confirm with how they are intended. That includes making sure the money is being added to existing local transportation funds, not supplanting them.
Johnson said his amendment, which passed unanimously, was intended to "trust but verify."
As the bill moved through committees Tuesday and Wednesday, at least two lawmakers expressed interest in being able to use local taxes to raise funds for infrastructure within their own counties. Sen. Paul Lowe, D-Forsyth, was perhaps most adamant, while Sen. Julie Mayfield, D-Buncombe, also expressed interest in a similar effort.
Sen. Dave Craven, R-Randolph, told Mayfield he wants to first see how the Mecklenburg County effort goes before allowing every county to pursue similar efforts. The Mecklenburg transit tax is the result of decades of work, lawmakers have said previously.
"I want to see this to fruition, watch them be successful and then come back and have those conversations," Craven said Tuesday morning in the Senate Rules Committee.
The P.A.V.E. Act still needs to receive a third reading in the Senate. From there, it would be sent back to the House, which must sign off on the changes the Senate made before it can be sent to Governor Josh Stein.
