Tagged: Streetcar

At just a few weeks into his tenure as city manager, Ron Carlee has no shortage of city issues to occupy him. There's the airport governance study and his take on the results… and then there's the city budget, which he just presented last week. The streetcar has been making news for some time, but this week, city council made time to discuss its future during their meeting. We'll talk with Ron Carlee about the most important city issues he's dealing with as he hits the ground running, when Charlotte Talks.

The future of the streetcar in Charlotte depends on the city's ability to get more federal funding, says City Manager Ron Carlee. To be precise, Carlee proposes Charlotte pursue a grant for half the $126 million price tag to undertake the next 2.5 mile stretch of streetcar extending to the east and west of Uptown. 

The city council's reaction to the proposal was tepid.

  Once again, the Charlotte City Council is talking streetcars. It's a topic that has dominated even those meetings when it wasn't on the council's agenda.  Monday night it actually is.

Charlotte City Manager Ron Carlee wants council to approve a property tax increase to help fund a Capital Improvement Plan.

Otherwise, the budget he proposed Monday night looks  pretty much like last year's budget. It totals just just under $2 billion, or 1.5 percent above this past year. That increase accounts for an estimated rise in costs and a slight pay raise for city employees, but otherwise keeps spending the same as last year. Here’s the full breakdown: