Proposed Charlotte property tax rate hike reduced

Proposed Charlotte property tax rate hike reduced

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Some good news to share for those who own homes in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County: Both city and county leaders are cutting back their proposed property tax rate increases. But for the city of Charlotte, that decision comes at the expense of cuts to some popular programs.

Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners Decision

The Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners decided to scale back the original one-and-a-half center increase to 1 cent. Instead, commissioners voted 7 to 2 to take $14 million from the county’s “rainy day” fund in addition to the $105 million the county manager included in her $2.5 billion budget. The budget fulfills Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools’ budget request of more than $640 million. Commissioners will take a final vote on the budget June 4.

Charlotte City Council Decision

Charlotte City Council had a similar debate. In the end, City Council members also voted on a smaller increase to the property tax rate – from 1.5 cents to 1.3 cents. But that means cuts to some hiring plans and pretty popular programs. Council agreed to cut a plan for new hires, which reduced the budget by $1.1 million.

In a much tighter 6 to 5 vote, they cut funding for the Vision Zero program in half. That’s the effort to eliminate traffic-related deaths. They reduced the sidewalk program from $50 million to $20 million, and cut the Corridors of Opportunity program by $5 million. Those are the six underserved neighborhoods like West Sugar Creek and Beatties Ford.

Debate Among Council Members

There were some tense moments during these negotiations, like a back-and-forth between councilmen Tarik Bokhari and Ed Driggs who disagreed over calling this a “tax reduction.”

“I think there’s a huge, huge silver lining to this, just effectively reduced taxes for the first time in Charlotte’s modern history,” said Bokhari.

“An effective tax reduction. What part of that definition does not make sense,” asked Bokhari.

“Actually, I’m sorry. I’m an economist and I will tell you it doesn’t make sense to much of anybody. A selective tax reduction. People think it’s going down and the truth is that we are not achieving something that we never have in history because the tax rate is going to go up. I just want us to be clear about that,” said Driggs.

Bokhari got up and walked out of the meeting, later returning. So, the city will see a property tax increase. Council will take a final vote June 10.