Oh let me count the ways! Let's start with these facts I think most of us could agree on: Charlotte is growing at an extremely high rate, congestion is high here by any measure, and that growth will continue for the foreseeable future. Therefore,
The tax, .5 cents added to our sales tax, is good policy because:
1. Roughly 2/3's of the annual $68Million in revenue has supported expanding the Charlotte bus service, rapidly addressing short term needs, and 1/3 supports light rail, long term needs.
2. The sales tax is a regional tax, in other words commuters from Iredell, Union County, Cabarrus, York, Gaston-- everyone coming in to Charlotte and purchasing goods here helps pay the tax, in other words, those who benefit from our economy need to be involved in improving Charlotte infrastructure. If the tax is repealed? Ask the pro-repeal guys, it will fall on the shoulders of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County to pay for it through property taxes. This is an easy economic question for city of Charlotte voters.
3. It allows the city to guide its development and reconstruction. It is inescapable that the "transportation policy" is a "land use policy" in disguise, as a detractor points out. Yup sure is- just like a highway plan! Real estate agents in North Carolina have long known that if you want to invest in land, the first stop you should make is Raleigh to see where the roads will be in 15-20 years! Likewise, when choosing transit corridors, there are by definition "winners" (those owning property on or near the corridors) and Losers ( those owning property along competitive avenues) which accounts for some of the cut with a knife screams of "conspiracy" by Transit detractors.
4. It is something we can do. It will not solve the area's congestion by itself, not by a long shot,
but as most know, federal funds for mass transit have dried up and highway policy is set in Raleigh.
5. Suppiorting the tax doesn't keep us from fighting for more roads for the Charlotte region. WE NEED TO! I am a supporter of Republican's Phil Berger and Paul Stam's advocacy that the transportation fund stop being looted, raided, or plundered -your choice of words for a state taking transportation tax revenues to pay for other measures, of a $1.5B road bond for NC being placed on the November ballot, and addressing the archaic way the trust fund allocates highway spending without regard to growth, congestion or highway miles traveled. Berger and Stam also call on Governor Easley and the Democratically controlled state house to take transportation and infrastructure seriously which means NOT cutting the funding by 41M as the current budget does. If education was a winner in the state budget, transportation was a loser.
The critics have been against transit from the start, the cost over runs just gave them the cover to get this on the ballot. Just a note, the price of transit projects is very hard to predict accurately, and if you lived in Seattle you'd think our cost over run small. Many of the tranist critic are the same critics who told you we could get more schools by voting against the last school bond, how did that work out for you? Many of the arguments are the same too. "It cost too much", or "I'm not getting enough for my community" or "We're over-taxed", or "My voters won't ride it." All of these arguments can be translated simply into this reality, "I am not getting what I want."
The sales tax spreads the cost of transit improvements over the greater Charlotte community, and is decidedly more fair than raising my Charlotte property taxes. Most believe a family of four pays roughly $59 more for the sales tax-- and to get similar revenues from our Charlotte property taxes? $160 per year per property owner to fund the $68M the tax produces.
We, the citizens of Charlotte who believe in Charlotte's future, need to take the lead. We need to take the lead on transit, highways, public safety and all the policy's needed to keep this city the great and the wonderful place it is-- for families, for business, and for the state. We need to support forward looking politicians- and communicate that support through our votes and presence to those who believe in the future of Charlotte and this state, and NOT those that believe the city's best days are behind them. I include Mayor McGrory in this forward-thinking group, he has led the way on transit and taken political heat for it. We need to push our State representatives to do what is necessary to provide roads for the 21st Century for North Carolina and Charlotte.
And the .5 cent tax benefits every Charlotte resident because for every person taken off the highway... that makes my drive (and those who have to or prefer to drive) around town a little better.
Vote for Charlotte's Future, Vote NO on the repeal, and lets beat it 3 to 1.
No comments:
Post a Comment