Eighty two percent of the voters that turned out for the Nov. 5 election cast a no vote for the proposed income tax in Charlotte. In total 1,906 of the 6,311 registered voters cast their ballot. The second proposal, a change to the city’s charter that would have designated 2.34 mills (roughly $500,000) towards road maintenance in any year an income tax was collected, met a similar fate.
The proposed income tax would have generated an estimated $1.1 to $1.5 million in revenue for the City of Charlotte. City council members voted in June to place the proposal before the voters in an effort to generate a steady source of revenue to utilize towards road maintenance. City Manager Gregg Guetschow estimated it would take a minimum of $500,000 per year to designate for street improvements and maintenance.
Guetschow said it’s back to the drawing board for the council, which adopted a budget this past June without designating any significant money to street improvements.
“With such a resounding defeat of the income tax proposal, certainly we won’t revisit that issue,” Guetschow said. “We will bring the question of funding back up again with council in the context of our next budget.”
He said the council will have three new faces that will need to be brought up to date on the city’s fiscal situation — newly elected mayor, Carrie Burch and councilmember Yvonne Ridge and Scott Cuttle.
In regards to the city’s streets, Burch said it will take some time before the council will be ready to tackle the issue.
“I think we’re going to let the dust settle for a little while,” Burch said. “It’s definitely something we’re going to have to tackle in the near future.”
Guetschow did see some positives come from the Nov. 5 election. He said the city was able to highlight the importance of the issue.
So they can make their own choices in light of understanding of what the city’s fiscal condition with do.
“Nobody ever said we don’t need to do anything with streets,” Guetschow said. “The new council will need to come to the understanding of whether we need to reallocate funds or if we need additional money due to cuts we’ve received from the state level.”
