Durham Mayor Bill Bell continues to lead the charge for a Triangle transit tax. Last fall he said he wanted the authority to implement a transit tax without voter approval. Today, the Herald-Sun reports this:
Mayor Bill Bell says he wants legislators to add language to a transit-finance bill that would require all three Triangle counties to levy a sales-tax surcharge for new transit systems before the state could step in with additional subsidies.
The mayor announced his position Wednesday during a meeting of the Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Transportation Advisory Committee.
He said the proposal would be among the amendments to the transit bill the General Assembly’s House Finance Committee considers next week. Bell added that he believes the three-county requirement would ensure that any transit system serves the whole region.
So what’s the mayor doing? And why?
