Carrboro leaders to lobby for taxes

Carrboro’s Board of Aldermen is proposing increases to a pair of taxes in an effort to stimulate funding for the town’s public transportation system.

The increases in the sales tax and motor vehicle tax are some of the town’s legislative requests, up for discussion today at a breakfast held with the area’s legislators at 7:30 a.m. at Town Hall.

Alderman Mark Chilton said he thinks a $10 increase in the annual motor vehicle tax is the most important and feasible of the town’s propositions.

“The reality is that it is generally difficult to get Carrboro to get things passed by the General Assembly,” Chilton said, adding that Chapel Hill has initiated a similar request.

The motor vehicle tax covers the town’s public transit costs and is levied as a flat tax by the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Chilton said residents who own automobiles should assist in funding public transit.

“Those who are clogging our streets should pay the tax,” he said.

The state limits the annual motor vehicle tax to a maximum of $15 per registration, the current rate levied by Carrboro.

But other cities have succeeded in bypassing the restriction.

Chilton added that the legislative session is longer this year, possibly making the General Assembly more likely to pass the tax request.

Raising the town’s motor vehicle tax to $25 would add $125,000 annually to the public transportation budget, according to regional agenda reports from the Triangle J Council of Governments.

Dr. Lee Mandell, director of information technology and research at the N.C. League of Municipalities, said the motor vehicle tax is feasible for Carrboro because Charlotte and the town of Matthews levy at similar levels.

“There is already a precedent for (the motor vehicle tax),” he said.

But the proposed sales tax increase is not expected to get very far in the legislature.

“A city sales tax increase would be unprecedented,” Mandell said.

A few counties — Mecklenburg and Dare — have been able to raise their sales taxes with authorization from the state, but no municipality has yet been allowed to raise the tax.

Bing Roenigk, assistant town manager, said that a half-cent raise in the town’s sales tax rate — the current proposal — would contribute at least $60,000 annually to total public transit revenue.

Other requests the town plans to make include: a challenge to a proposed constitutional recognition of the state’s Defense of Marriage Act; opposition to a bill restricting driver’s licenses for immigrants; and support for the county’s request that the state fund Medicaid.

North Carolina and New York are the only two states in the nation that require counties to assist in Medicaid expenses.

 

Contact the City Editor at citydesk@unc.edu.