The bill that would charge Charlotte tens of millions of dollars for killing the I-77 South toll lanes does not stop at the city line. The smaller towns around it, the ones whose representatives voted to rescind, could owe a share as well, and at least one mayor is already unhappy about it.
According to The Charlotte Observer, the governments that voted to pull the project and could now be billed include Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, Davidson, Monroe, Cornelius, Matthews, Mint Hill, Huntersville, and the Metropolitan Transit Commission's representatives. The amount each would owe, out of a $60 million total estimated by the state, would track its weighted vote at the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization. Charlotte's share is the largest, at about 41 percent.
Some of those smaller governments did not want to be here. Monroe Mayor Robert Burns opposed rescinding the project, his city's representative voted to do it anyway, and Burns told the Observer he is upset Monroe might now be on the hook, saying officials "don't think through these issues" and "took victory prematurely."
The measure, written by Sen. Vickie Sawyer, a Republican whose district covers Iredell and part of Mecklenburg County, would also bar the state from formally removing the project until January 1, 2027, and would block local governments from using the new Mecklenburg transportation sales tax to cover the cost. Strolling Firethorne covered the original reversal in May; the full account of the new bill, and the Mecklenburg board's response to it, is in The Charlotte Mercury.