Leaders of a southeast Mecklenburg town once united against a plan to overhaul the region’s transportation system are now at odds over their position and what caused the split.
The Matthews Board of Commissioners unanimously voted in August against draft legislation put together by other local governments to put a sales tax increase on the ballot to pay for transit. The town’s mayor issued a statement after the bill was formally filed in the North Carolina Senate last week reiterating Matthews’ “strong stand against the transit proposal.”
But some on the board now say they’ve learned more about what’s in the bill and are reversing their votes on the August resolution. The pair still don’t endorse the legislation but, they say, it should be up to the voters to make an informed decision through a referendum. Their shifts were first reported by WSOC and The Charlotte Ledger.
“I’m not pushing it to go through. I’m not trying to stop it,” Mayor Pro Tem Gina Hoover told The Charlotte Observer. “It’s just something I feel that the voters should choose.”
Other town leaders say they’ve had all the facts from the beginning, and they’re a bad break for Matthews.
“It’s not an equitable deal,” Mayor John Higdon said.
Matthews’ initially spurned the draft legislation to raise the county sales tax by a penny over concerns about about how it would spend money. It capped spending on rail projects at 40% of revenue, which would cut Matthews out of light rail plans.
The town was long slated to be part of the Silver Line from Belmont to Charlotte-Douglas International Airport then eastward to Matthews. But the spending cap makes that unaffordable, meaning some or all of the line must be scrapped or converted to another form of transit.
The Charlotte Area Transit System laid out four scenarios in January for what could be affordable under the funding breakdown in the bill.
The first option calls for the Silver Line to be built as light rail from the airport to Bojangles Coliseum in east Charlotte, with the option to extend it in both directions in the future. The other options convert all or some of the Silver Line to bus rapid transit — with buses in dedicated lanes that have traffic signal priority, elevated platforms and enhanced stations.
Higdon repeatedly slammed the idea of bus rapid transit, saying it wouldn’t generate the same economic benefits as light rail and that he doesn’t have faith in CATS’ ability to put together a high-performing system.
Matthews’ August referendum called for either a bigger sales tax increase — 1.4 cents — to help pay for the full Silver Line as light rail or for all rail projects to be converted to bus rapid transit. The vote was unanimous.
Now, Hoover and Commissioner Mark Tofano confirmed to the Observer they’ve changed their votes. Commissioner Leon Threatt has done the same, they say. But Threatt declined an interview request from the Observer.
Both Hoover and Tofano emphasized they still don’t support the bill now in the state Senate, but they do oppose the town’s resolution and are neutral on a referendum getting on the ballot. They say learning more about the bill, including how much money the town would get for roads projects and what other transit options could be available, changed their stances.
“In biblical terms, the scales dropped from my eyes,” Tofano said.
He’s still skeptical about tax increase, but is open to the idea of bus rapid transit because he currently uses CATS’ express bus to commute to uptown Charlotte for work.
And, he’s now aware the town would receive an estimated $4-6 million for road projects annually under the spending plan in the bill, which “would do tremendous benefit to our town and all other smaller towns.”
Other towns’ leadership, including Pineville and Mint Hill, touted the potential influx of roads money when voting to back the draft legislation. Commissioner Ken McCool said the board received an email in May from the town manager explaining “we would get some sort of money.”
Tofano told the Observer he may have missed an email with that information and “takes full responsibility” for being unaware. He said the wording of the resolution led him to believe some communities in Mecklenburg would get no new funding from the sales tax increase.
“This common theme about getting nothing was prevalent all throughout the conversations prior to the resolution being presented,” he said. “That actually colored my decision.”
Hearing more specific numbers about roads funding and an estimate that 30% of the new sales tax would be paid by tourists persuaded Hoover to reconsider her position. The money could help alleviate traffic issues and with infrastructure projects to keep pace with growth, she said.
Higdon, McCool and Commissioner Renee Garner, who still support the resolution and oppose the transit bill, pushed back on the notion town staff didn’t make the board aware of the road money estimates before the resolution vote.
“It’s simply untrue,” McCool said.
They questioned how far the roads money would actually go amid rising project costs.
“I’m still working towards negotiating a better deal on behalf of Matthews,” McCool said.
Despite the new divide on the board, Higdon is optimistic the town can still lobby legislators to change the bill in time to potentially save the Silver Line as originally planned.
“What I’m hearing is, you know, nothing is set in stone,” he said.
Garner said she left recent conversations with legislators feeling “pretty good” about potential movement, but she doesn’t have “any good idea” how her colleagues’ shifts could impact things moving forward.
Developer Ned Curran, an advocate for the legislation, told reporters after it was introduced in the legislature “Matthews is treated just like every other town.”
Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger told reporters at a Charlotte event last week he didn’t recall having any conversations with Matthews leaders about their concerns.
“We understand that there have been a lot of compromises in bringing this together, and my understanding is that there are still conversations ongoing,” he said.
State House Speaker Destin Hall noted at the same press conference state Rep. Tricia Cotham, whose district includes parts of Matthews, is expected to play a pivotal role in driving the legislation in the House.
“Tricia has a voice that carries great weight in our caucus, and I imagine that her opinion on this bill is going to carry a lot of weight with members of our caucus,” he said.
This story was originally published March 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
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Mary Ramsey is the local government accountability reporter for The Charlotte Observer. A native of the Carolinas, she studied journalism at the University of South Carolina and has also worked in Phoenix, Arizona and Louisville, Kentucky. Support my work with a digital subscription