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Voters back school bonds, transit
North Mecklenburg voters came
out strongly in support of keeping the county’s 1/2-cent sales tax for transit and in favor of the $516 million in school bonds, signaling support for efforts to deal with growth in the region. The school bond vote will have an immediate effect on North Meck, providing a new high school in Cornelius and renovations at Davidson IB Middle School. And transit supporters say the transit vote bodes well for the north commuter rail project.
TRANSIT
On the transit issue, supporters of keeping the tax are reading the vote as an endorsement of the long-range plans of Charlotte Area Transit system. Those include expanded bus service, a possible light rail line to the University area in Northeast Charlotte and a possible commuter rail line north to Davidson or Mooresville.
In North Meck, the vote was 60% to 70% in favor of keeping the tax. In Davidson, the vote was even higher, at 78.6% in favor.
Mayor-elect John Woods, who supports the commuter rail and other regional solutions to growth-related issues, called the vote an important one.
“I think we’ve got to find alternative ways to move ourselves around,” Mr. Woods said Tuesday night after winning the mayoral election. “The transit vote and our decisions regarding rail transit as well as expanded bus rapid transit throughout Mecklenburg County are going to be key ingredients to finding better ways to transport ourselves and a better way to improve the quality of life throughout Mecklenburg County and surrounding counties, all of which form one big community.”
Many issues have yet to be resolved before the commuter rail line project can be completed. Among other things, municipalities along the proposed route (Charlotte, Huntersville, Cornelius, Davidson and possibly Mooresville) must figure out how to pay for it. Federal funding seems unlikely, because initial projections - using strict federal government formulas - predict ridership will not qualify for federal money. Officials are considering something called tax increment financing, or TIF, which would dedicate a portion of any new tax revenues generated by rail-related growth to help pay for the line.
SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION TO COME
The county-wide vote in favor of the school bonds was about 68%, and at least that or stronger in North Meck. In Davidson, 80.7% favored the bonds.
“By supporting the $516 million bond issue, the voters of Mecklenburg County have made public education a top priority. They have recognized the importance of this area’s public schools to our economy and to our future,” Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Peter Gorman said in a news release after the vote.
CMS said the work on the first projects included in the bonds would start next spring. The bond package includes money for a badly needed $7 million high school on Bailey Road in Cornelius. Davidson students, who currently go to North Meck High in Huntersville, would go to the new Bailey Road high school when it opens in 2010.
Also included in this year’s bond package are $6 million in renovations to the aging Davidson IB Middle School on South Street. CMS said work on that school will take a year, and could begin in Spring 2009 and finish in summer 2010.
And Davidson Elementary School is scheduled for a new fire alarm system, to be paid for with part of this year’s bond money.
The positive vote has some county leaders talking about speeding up some school repair and construction projects, The Charlotte Observer reported Thursday.
LINKS
Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools news release, “Voters approve bonds to build schools and renovate aging facilities.”
CMS Project Page for Bailey Road High School.
CMS school project priority list for 2007 bonds. (Requires Adobe Reader software - PDF)
Filed under: Commuter rail line, Election 2007, Links, Living with Growth, Schools
Update: Huntersville voters joined other North Meck towns in a pro-transit vote Tuesday. But that doesn’t mean smooth sailing for the North Commuter Rail Line. The Charlotte Observer reports in Friday’s edition that the new town commission there has a 3-2 majority against the rail line. The big question mark for both opponents and supporters of the line is the feasibility of the proposed tax increment financing plan. If the tax base along the line does not grow fast enough to pay the rail line construction debt, the burden could fall on taxpayers.