Charlotte City Council members say they took a significant first step Tuesday toward public transit progress after a last-minute resolution to a squabble between local leaders.

The council voted 9-1 to approve a revised agreement managing the region’s public transit system. District 2 Council member Malcolm Graham was the lone vote against.

Revisions give more control over the Charlotte Area Transit System to a group of Charlotte-area cities and towns. The deal also extends an agreement among those communities into 2034.

It helps Charlotte calm tensions with other local governments by agreeing to care for unmaintained roads across the county with a sales tax proposal intended to pay for public transit. Frustrated county and town leaders earlier in the day threatened to hold up the agreement setting rules for who controls CATS.

“Let this vote tonight be a show of good faith,” said Tariq Bokhari, District 6 council member.

Opponents, which included every voting municipality on the Metropolitan Transit Commission except Charlotte, were upset about a lack of money for “orphan roads.” Those are streets inside Mecklenburg County that aren’t maintained by the state or any local government. A lack of maintenance on those roads creates danger for motorists and pedestrians, they said.

But Charlotte City Manager Marcus Jones said late Tuesday he promised county government he’d work on a separate plan to put new sales tax money into the roads. County Manager Dena Diorio said that was enough for her and the towns.

Any revisions to the current transit agreement must be approved by Mecklenburg County, the City of Charlotte and at least five of the six participating municipalities. The MTC is scheduled to meet at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

What is the Metropolitan Transit Commission?

Mecklenburg County, Charlotte, Davidson, Huntersville, Cornelius, Pineville, Matthews and Mint Hill signed onto an agreement that formed the MTC to help govern CATS in 1999.

The original agreement came months after Mecklenburg County voters approved a half-cent sales tax to finance public transportation systems in 1998. In recent years, state legislators have been hesitant to back an increase to the sales tax. Charlotte has discussed trying to get the increase on the ballot for transportation needs, but the city needs General Assembly approval to do so.

In addition to Mecklenburg mayors and a county commissioner, a North Carolina Board of Transportation representative is also a voting member of the MTC. Representatives from Concord, Gastonia, Monroe, Indian Trail, Mooresville, Stallings, York County and the South Carolina Department of Transportation serve as non-voting members.

Recent tensions between MTC, Charlotte

The schism between Charlotte and other members of the MTC over revisions was the latest in a series of disputes between the two groups.

County Commissioner Leigh Altman and the mayors of Cornelius, Davidson, Huntersville, Matthews, Mint Hill and Pineville sent a letter to Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles in September. They said Charlotte’s dominance over the CATS has been unfair to residents in other parts of the county whose tax dollars also help support the system, and they called for more power for the MTC.

A flashpoint for that request: a decision by the city of Charlotte to not follow through on a vote to hire an outside investigator to examine CATS after a tumultuous year that included a change in leadership and a train derailment. The city’s decision occurred partly because Charlotte “believes the MTC is only an ‘advisory body’ and its votes only constitute recommendations,” the September letter claimed.

“We do not know when the City began to take this view, but it is not what was originally intended. The MTC was never meant to be just an ‘advisory body,’” the letter said.

In April, the MTC deferred approval of CATS’ $326.5 million budget for the budget year that starts July 1 over questions about authority, the Charlotte Business Journal reported.

The question of regional unity also came up during debates over the long-stalled plan to connect uptown with north Mecklenburg towns via commuter rail.

County Commissioner Elaine Powell, whose District 1 includes north Mecklenburg, said in April she wants to see a local agreement all north Mecklenburg mayors can get behind before she throws her support behind the revived Red Line plan.

“No one’s gonna pressure me into agreeing to anything without a strong interlocal agreement. … It’s really important to me that we’re all unanimous together,” she said.

What changes are on the table for CATS?

Besides extending the interlocal agreement through 2034, revisions Council considered Tuesday night included:

• Creating a new yearly fund of $500,000 for the MTC to pay for studies or reports related to the transit system

• Expanding the role of the commission in developing CATS’ budget and selecting its CEO. Brent Cagle has served as interim leader of the transit system since October 2022.

• Increasing reporting requirements for CATS to the commission

Graham made a substitute motion Tuesday to remove the $500,000, saying it was “redundant.” But that motion failed.

“I’m here for regionalism … I just wanted to make sure that we have honest brokers,” he said, adding he thinks other MTC members have been misleading about how the city managed transit problems.

Lyles said she was “disappointed” other members of the MTC opted for “a statement instead of making a phone call” about their dissatisfaction.

“So much of what we do is about having a conversation with each other so we can move forward together or at least understand what we don’t want to do,” she said.

What’s next for transit?

The revised transit agreement now goes to the county commission and other town boards for consideration. The MTC is expected to vote on approving CATS’ budget at its Wednesday meeting.

Council member Ed Driggs, who chairs the council’s transportation committee, said a new agreement could bring progress on getting a sales tax referendum to fund transit needs.

“It’s a step towards a certain goal that we have of getting that referendum out there,” he said.

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