Tagged: Ballantyne

Think about this for a moment - back in 1960, the entire city of Charlotte was just 35 square miles.  Today it's more than 300 square miles. That's a 700 percent expansion as one neighborhood after another got swallowed up through annexation.

But now, there's not much land left to annex and recent changes to state law will make future annexation much harder.  No big deal, right?  Many people think Charlotte's plenty big. What few realize is the role annexation has played in the city's budget and tax rates over the years. WFAE's Julie Rose explains.

As the Charlotte City Council works to find agreement on a proposed tax increase to pay for infrastructure improvements, Mayor Anthony Foxx is pitching his preferred approach in town hall meetings across the city. Thursday night, he ventured into unfriendly territory at the Ballantyne Hotel where a crowd of about 100 challenged his proposal.