HB148-09 | newsobserver.com projects

Transit tax option okayed

Submitted by markjohnson on August 10, 2009 - 9:15pm.

The House gave final approval late Monday to legislation allowing Triangle counties to raise the sales tax by 1/2-cent to pay for light rail and more buses.

House members voted 73 to 40 to let Wake, Orange and Durham counties boost the sales tax by 1/2 percentage point, if voters approve. The money would help bankroll a 25-year regional plan that would link Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill by light rail and put 300 new buses on the roads.

The Senate already approved the bill

Guilford and Forsyth counties in the Triad also could vote to raise the sales tax for transit money.

The legislation allowed every other county, except Mecklenburg, to vote on a 1/4-cent transit tax increase. Mecklenburg already has a 1/2-cent transit tax added to its sales tax rate.

Some lawmakers questioned whether voters would rally behind a tax increase during a recession and after the legislature just voted to raise the sales tax statewide by an additional penny, or percentage point.

The bill authorizes two other sources of transit revenue in the Triangle: an increase in the transit car registration fee and Research Triangle Park landowners could pay a transit tax of 10 cents-per-$100 property valuation.

Senate approves transit tax option

Submitted by bniolet on August 5, 2009 - 3:39pm.

Tags: HB148-09 | transit | Under the Dome

In a 37-9 vote, the Senate today gave tentative approval to a bill that would let Triangle voters add a half cent to the local sales tax to raise money for better public transit service.

The measure cleared the House in April and the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday, reports Bruce Siceloff on his Crosstown Traffic blog.

If it wins final approval in the Senate this week, it will return to the House for concurrence on a minor Senate change.

The bill would authorize county commissioners and local voters, through a referendum, to enact a local sales tax hike of one-half cent per dollar in five urban counties — Wake, Durham, Orange, Guilford, Forsyth — and a quarter-cent hike in Johnston and other rural counties that have public transit service.

The money would be dedicated to cover operating and capital costs of local public transit systems.

Triangle leaders say it would generate enough money to cover most of the cost of an ambitious plan to put a few hundred more buses on the roads and lay more than 50 miles of light-rail lines in Wake, Durham and Orange counties.

Quick Hits

Submitted by ryanteaguebeckwith on February 12, 2009 - 8:30am.

* Bills would set up state and local funding options for rail and transit improvements, including a half-cent sales tax.

* Gary Robertson and Mike Baker of the capital press corps were awarded the 2008 North Carolina AP Staffers of the Year for election coverage.

* A tiny mouse named "Scoop" shuts down political reporting for an hour as reporters scramble to humanely remove him from the legislature.

* President Obama tells Camp Lejeune Marines that he wants to make sure they have 12-month deployments to Afghanistan, not 15-month ones.