Two issues:
• The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department wants money to hire another 125 officers. Does the department have the capacity to train that many officers? Why no. But the department still asked for 125 more officers anyway. Unsurprising, Charlotte City Council is likely to give the CMPD money hire fewer officers, probably 50.
• And then there’s the garbage fee issue. Per the UPoR:
Budget officials also said council members could raise a garbage fee paid by homeowners. That fee was $47 for single-family homes two years ago, but council members lowered it to $25 last year. That was done to offset the impact of a small property tax increase.
But that garbage fee could be going back up.
The city has been considering whether to eliminate garbage collection for apartment complexes, a move that would save about $3 million – almost the size of the current shortfall. But the budget discussed Monday is based on the city continuing to provide garbage service for apartments.
Should this come as a surprise? No. It was always clear that this sort of multi-year bait-and-switch to raise city property taxes was a possibility.
