Mayoral candidates emphasize differences
Charlotte's two mayoral candidates continued to play up their differences Wednesday as they parted ways over a proposed streetcar and the nature of the city's top job.
Republican John Lassiter and Democrat Anthony Foxx spoke to a Charlotte Chamber audience in Pinehurst in the afternoon before bringing what Lassiter called their "traveling road show" to Queens University of Charlotte in a forum co-sponsored by WFAE that night.
Less than a month before the November election, both still are fighting the impression that there's little difference in the men who hope to become Charlotte's first new mayor in 14 years. At the Chamber's Pinehurst retreat, Johnson C. Smith University President Ron Carter told them they "sound alike in many ways."
In response, Lassiter described what he called a "significant difference of performance" and cited his experience as a school board member, planning commissioner and City Council member. It is, he said, "a record unparalleled for someone running for this office."
"I guess I just ought to quit," replied Foxx.
But Foxx highlighted his own record on council and as someone who grew up in Charlotte and has an "emotional connection" to the community. Lassiter moved to Charlotte nearly 27 years ago from Raleigh.
Foxx portrayed himself as someone who has championed the hiring of police, the building of roads and development of road corridors.
At Queens, the two debated financing for the proposed streetcar that would run from Johnson C. Smith through town to Eastland Mall. Last month Foxx and the council's Democratic majority voted to override Mayor Pat McCrory's veto of $4.5 million on an engineering study for the line. Lassiter opposed it.
Though Lassiter supports the project, he said he didn't believe in committing money until the city knows how it would pay for the $450 million project.
Both vowed that they wouldn't raise property taxes to pay for the line. Last month, the city staff outlined scenarios to the council's Transportation Committee, which Foxx chairs. One called for creating a special taxing district along the line and enacting a 4-cent tax hike for every $100 of taxable value. Another called for a citywide tax increase of 2 cents.
Lassiter said it's unclear where the city's estimated $115 million share would come from. Foxx suggested ways to pay for it without property taxes, including an engineering solution that would do away with overhead wires.
Asked whether Charlotte is ready for a full-time mayor, Lassiter said he would try to balance the part-time job with his business and family. Foxx said the city is "moving past the time when a part-time mayor can engage the community."
Foxx said he would revisit the idea of city-county consolidation. Lassiter said he would support more functional consolidation among the city, county and school system in areas such as human resources and information technology.
Hackney knows "all about" Mecklenburg
N.C. House Speaker Joe Hackney blasted Republican legislators today for "trying to fight against us at every turn" during the last legislative session.
Speaking to the Charlotte Uptown Democratic Forum, the Chapel Hill Democrat outlined the difficulty of balancing a state budget that had a $4.6 billion shortfall, Jim Morrill of The Charlotte Observer reports. The Democratic controlled General Assembly used a package of cuts and tax hikes and federal stimulus money to balance the budget.
"We did what we had to do to protect education and our universities," he said, adding that Republicans did nothing but ridicule Democratic proposals. "This session (they) were not serious about government ... It's a national trend."
Hackney also touched on matters closer to home.
"There's often a perception in Mecklenburg, I am told, that nobody cares about Mecklenburg," he said. "I can assure you I keep up with it. I know all about 495," he added, before someone corrected him that it's completion of the I-485 beltway that is a concern to Charlotteans.
"485, same thing," Hackney said quickly.
Foxx: No property tax hike for streetcar
Democratic mayoral candidate Anthony Foxx said Thursday he wouldn't raise property taxes to pay for a streetcar, despite his vote to move ahead with the project and suggestions from city staff that a hike may be needed.
"We aren't proposing or considering any increase in property taxes, and now would be a terrible time to think of that," he told the Observer. "I will not raise property taxes for the streetcar."
The streetcar and property tax issues came up when Foxx and Republican John Lassiter spoke to a luncheon of the Charlotte Regional Mortgage Lenders Association at the Myers Park Country Club.
Lassiter has also opposed property tax increases.
The rivals, both at-large city council members, were on opposite sides last month when council Democrats overrode Mayor Pat McCrory's veto of $4.5 million to start design work on the line.
The project, which would run from Johnson C. Smith University through uptown to Eastland Mall, would cost over $450 million. It's unclear where the money would come from.
"I could not promise to build something I didn't know how to pay for," Lassiter told the mortgage group.
Foxx defended his vote. He said the line would bring economic development to neighborhoods that need it. One study showed new development could generate $112million in new property taxes over 20 years.
"The future of our city is dependent on making every part ... a great place to live in," he told the group.
On Monday the city staff outlined ways to pay for the line to the council's Transportation Committee, which Foxx chairs. One option called for creating a special taxing district along the line and enacting a 4-cent tax hike for every $100 of taxable value. Another called for a citywide tax increase of 2 cents.
The city's current tax rate is 45.86cents.
"By supporting the streetcar, I'm not committing myself to a property tax increase," Foxx said later.
During the meeting, he defended his vote for a 2006 city budget that raised property taxes 9 percent - the first increase in at least a decade. Lassiter voted against the budget.
Foxx said the tax hike helped pay for the 70 new officers the police chief requested, more than in the no-new-tax budget supported by Lassiter and McCrory. It also brought in money for new roads and neighborhood improvements.
He suggested that without the tax hike, Charlotte's crime rate might not have gone down. Police say it's down 20percent from a year ago.
"You can't out a price on (a) family's sense of safety, put a value on the life saved because we had the additional police officers," he told the group.
Lassiter has criticized "unnecessary and unmanaged government spending" that he says had nothing to do with police, roads or neighborhoods.
Thursday he alluded to this year's General Assembly actions that raised the state sales tax by a penny and enacted surcharges of 2 percent or 3percent on some taxpayers. He told the mortgage lenders that he'll keep taxes down.
"We're in a high-taxed city in a high-taxed state," he said. "We've got to right the ship."
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Sources: McClatchy Newspapers, Charlotte Observer, Under The Dome, Charmeck.org, North Carolina General Assembly, Google Maps
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