How your 1/2 cent sales tax is spent...

Take a look at this diagram for how your 1/2 cent sales tax is spent:

You can see that over half goes to the operation of the Bus Fleet. Only a very small amount goes to rail operation and rail capital.

First Response

In response to a post by the Meck Deck...which actually links to another blog:

Davidson Democrat Sam Spencer organized a rally at the Rosa Parks Transit Center last week. While the intention was a good one, there weren't that many people there. However, that's not what this post is about.

There are many things that Sam presents as facts from the March City Council Meeting. However, there are a few errors and I want to correct them before Meck Deck gets going.

First Option (No Rail, limited bus)

1. The elimination of 46 routes instead of 7.
2. STS service would be cut by 40%, which is more than just the City of Charlotte.
3. Charlotte property tax increase: 2.6 cents per $100 in assessed value.

Second Option (South Corridor, limited bus)

1. Same bus service as in #1 .
2. 15 minute peak, 30 off peak rail service.
3. Charlotte property tax increase: 3.6 cents per $100 in assessed value.

Third and Fourth Options

These would keep 100% of bus service and only the South Corridor in Option 3 with the full 2030 Transit Program in Option 4.

Third Option Charlotte property tax increase: 10.7 cents per $100 in assessed value.
Fourth Option Charlotte property tax increase: 15.2 cents per $100 in assessed value.

While Option One has the lowest hit to the property tax value, there is one catch. The City of Charlotte, and the City alone, would have to come up with $18 million and $300 million to repay the State and Federal Government. FY2008 Property Tax Revenue is only around $243 million. And that is to fund such critical agencies as the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and the Charlotte Fire Department (of which about 75% of that revenue goes to CMPD and CFD).

City Staff has repeatedly said that Option One is not likely but a combination of the other three is more realistic. And probably the most important thing to keep in mind with all of this...only the citizens of Charlotte would have to pay any new property taxes to replace the lost 1/2 cent sales tax revenue.

Observer Article- August 8

An article was run in the Charlotte Observer a few days ago about the CATS system from David Hartgen, a longtime critic of the Light Rail system and now employed by a Raleigh-based organization that is fundamentally opposed to the LRT System.

There were a few problems with what he was writing about, and here are the correct statements. CATS has been working very hard in the past few days to correct them...but for the benefit of you, the reader, here is easy access to the correct information.

1. The Charlotte Department of Transportation continues to say that Charlotte will add a city the size of St. Louis by 2035. That's 350,000 people.

2. Trying to compare this current budget for the 2035 Transit System is like comparing the cost of building Charlotte-Douglas International Airport in the 1980s to the cost of building it now. The new third parallel runway is approaching the cost of the Airport back in the 1980s. Inflation is the reason that there appears to be a cost overrun. In 1998, there was no inflationary planning.

3. The "2% ridership" figure Professor Hartgen uses is incorrect. This number includes those that are passing through on Interstates 77 and 85 on their way to other destinations outside Mecklenburg County. In addition, it is counting the non-commuter trips like truck and mail deliveries.

4. The Professor's suggestions that services be contracted out is already done. All but the LRT operators and senior CATS management are contract employees. The person Professor Hartgen is writing to, Senator Pittenger, is not helping to move forward one of the best ideas Professor Hartgen has suggested...toll lanes. It would take legislation from the General Assembly to authorize Toll Lanes, something I have not seen the Senator work on. But an idea that the Charlotte Department of Transportation is working on now.


All in all, there were many errors an inaccuracies in the article written by Professor Hartgen and this serves to correct some of them.

Thoughts? Questions?

What happens if we lose the tax...

This is probably the most important post on this blog. I will reference this post often.

IF the tax fails the results are pretty bleak. Look at what the City of Charlotte's Budget and Evaulation Office came up with:

Overall Reduction of Bus Service (with no rail service):

1. NO rail or Trolley services.
2. Fares would increase by 25 percent (Local- current: $1.30, new: $1.63)
3. Reduced hours of service
4. Only 35 bus routes would operate (current: 76)
5. STS (special transportation for those that can't ride normal busses) would be cut by 40%

Reduction of Bus Service and limited Rail

1. Same bus service as above
2. Rail would be limted to 15 minutes during rush hour and 30 minutes the rest of the time with no Sunday Services
3. Fare increases by 25%
4. Limited Bus to Rail connection
5. NO new transit corridors (including the North Corridor)

Current Bus and South Corridor Rail Service

1. No service reductions to Bus and LRT operations
2. No new Corridors
3. No system imporvements

2030 Transit Plan

1. Continue with current plan as if the Sales Tax would not go away.

CATS Demographics

The breakdown of CATS riders is interesting.

The average age is 38 years old with 83% full time employed. The average income of the local routes is around $21,000. The average income of the Express Routes is around $55,000.

74% of all CATS riders live close enough to walk.

98% of customers say that CATS is valuable or extremely valuable to the region

96% say that CATS is valueable to extremely valuable to them personally (that's a lot of people)

74% of riders say that CATS saves them money


The Central Avenue Route has the most riders at 1.5 million...think of all those cars on the road.

The Monroe Road Route, one of the major Uptown routes from South Mecklenburg, has just over 700,000 riders.




Think of these numbers...now think of all those extra cars on the road. The City could not keep up with road construction fast enough to provide for all those cars. Plus, the loss of the Express Routes would force more people from outside Mecklenburg County onto unfamiliar roads and interstates.

Poll Instructions

There is now a poll posted on the Blog.

It is worded close to how the November ballot question will be asked. So a vote to keep the tax will be a "No" ballot vote.

This is not a scientific poll and is not intended to show any results or make any predictions.