Ballantyne, NC – Locally, The City of Charlotte has received $24.99 million dollars from federal stimulus money to fund a portion of a new street car project in the uptown. This first phase is a one and a half mile stretch from the transit center to Presbyterian Hospital. The buses will still run the same schedule on that stretch of road. The city will need to find $12 million for total operational costs for this first phase. By 2012, the city will need a minimum of $1.5 million for one year of operational costs. Where will this money come from? This all started in 1998 with a Transit Plan which became the 2025 Plan which became the 2030 Plan for the street car. The main bus routes near the street car are route 9 and route 39 on Central Avenue. There is heavy bus usage in this corridor. In 2007, the voters of Charlotte repealed the Transit Tax. Early in 2009 the majority of the city council voted to have an economic report/study done on the city of Charlotte. Will the street car eventually generate billions of dollars in this new corridor? The city decided that, on Wilkinson Boulevard, the west corridor is not dense enough. Therefore, there will not be a light rail on the west side. The estimated total cost of the street car is $500 million dollars. Local Improvement Districts were formed by North Carolina State Law. L.I.D.’s have additional property taxes levied by state law. The city also hired engineers to study the street car project. Originally the city budgeted $8 million for this engineering study but $5.5 million was spent on the project. Will the street car compete with the light rail for money from the Urban Circulator Grant Fund?
The federal stimulus money also allowed Charlotte to look at hiring new police officers. Originally the chief of police wanted another 125 officers. In the end, the city decided to hire another 50 officers. As part of the stipulation for the federal grant money, the city must keep the new police officers for a second year. The city has a $4.5 million dollar supplemental street resurfacing fund that will be used to fund the second year of pay for these additional 50 officers. The Powell Bill Fund Balance was taken to put into the supplemental street resurfacing fund. Also the city will be using part of the $8 million allocation for the engineering study. This can happen since not all of the money allocated for the engineering study was used. The “Smart Growth Fund” was a project started by the city approximately ten years ago. $4 million dollars of this money was never used. This can be a “shell game” for the city budget.
The city, in the past, has paid for 80% of the cost of C.M.S. resource officers. The city has decided that the street car is a more important project than school resource officers. Right now there is a bit of a competition of the regional transit system versus the City of Charlotte. The federal government has $130 million in unallocated funds in the Urban Circulator Grant Fund.
$10.5 million in the Capitol Budget is from “Voter Approved Bonds” for economic development monies. The city will use the existing trolley cars instead of new cars for this street car project. The city hopes to spur economic development within this one and a half mile street car project. There might be six stops on this first phase of the street car project. The “Gold Rush” free buses will continue to run their normal schedule in the uptown. These are funded by local banks. The city is not sure if they are charging for riding the new street car. Nancy Carter is sure that the city should employ use of “hydro-rail” for the street car. So far this entire project has been a “bright and shinny” project. Most are not regarding the cost, logic or funding for this plan. The E.P.A. models and formulas do not care about mode of transportation but rather just emphasize public transportation as a whole. Therefore, the street car does not improve Charlotte’s E.P.A.’s Rating at all. Charlotte already has public transportation in the form of buses in that same corridor.
Eventually this entire project might be ten miles long. This type of public transportation has more stops than light rail. The projected plan calls for a span from Johnson C. Smith University to Eastland Mall. This project greatly helps people who live on Hawthorne and Davidson Streets. Compared to Charlotte, Boston is much more densely populated. Boston is approximately 700,000 people in 43 square miles but Charlotte is approximately 700,000 in 242.3 square miles. The current street car project of one and a half miles will not improve economic development as much as the light rail and will cause finite market improvements.
One of the upcoming zoning issues is the new Bojangles at the corner of Kings and Third Street. Bojangles decided to build now and not change the zoning designation away from the current B1 zoning. The B1 zoning is not friendly to pedestrians.
Soon there will be a new one quarter cent tax on the ballot. Mecklenburg County just lost $9 million dollars from the North Carolina General Assembly. The General Assembly has also approved Mecklenburg County raising the half cent transit tax to a one cent transit tax.
Those in favor of consolidation of government should consider the following five ideas:
1. Merge the debt. How would this become ONE debt? The city and the county manage debt in vasty different ways.
2. Everyone should be allowed to vote for ONE person, including all towns like Pineville and Huntersville. All should be allowed one vote.
3. Pay ONE property tax rate not several.
4. Full-time or part-time after consolidation? Might need Full-time.
5. Why is there not a “grass roots” group calling for this if it is so important? Should government officials be the only people calling for this?
In Mecklenburg County, there are approximately 150,000 in small towns. There are 900,000 in the entire county. There are approximately 700,000 in the city limits of Charlotte. Compare this to Phoenix where they have 22 semi-autonomous districts. Charlotte is studying this model. Taxes in the small towns in Mecklenburg County might have to go up soon. Charlotte has 48% levied in taxes. For example, in contrast, Pineville has 28% in taxes.
Susan J. Spaulding
Ballantyne Scoop Public Policy Reporter
