City council, county policy, and civic accountability
Mecklenburg County's new budget raised 721 county workers to a living wage but left MEDIC's paramedics and EMTs out — their raise sits in restricted contingency, pending two studies and a second vote.
Jack Beckett·Jun 3, 2026
Mecklenburg County's 2026-27 budget was a foregone conclusion — but adopting it still took the board most of an hour, through nine contract recusals, a failed park-appointment slate, three motions to…
Jack Beckett·Jun 3, 2026
A Charlotte City Council committee voted 4-1 to keep exploring a criminal-penalty option for repeat street-vending offenders and unanimously advanced citywide vending regulation, sending both to the…
Jack Beckett·Jun 3, 2026
At the MTC's final meeting, members praised interim CATS CEO Brent Cagle for steadying an agency in crisis since he arrived in December 2022.
Jack Beckett·Jun 3, 2026
Charlotte City Council voted 10-1 Monday to direct the city manager to give the Charlotte Fire Department the same 10 percent raise as police, closing a pay gap that drew months of firefighter protest.
Jack Beckett·Jun 2, 2026
The Metropolitan Transit Commission's final vote adopted the CATS Fare Modernization Program — tap-and-go payments, electronic validation, a new streetcar fare, and expanded reduced fares, phased in…
Jack Beckett·Jun 2, 2026
The Metropolitan Transit Commission held its final meeting May 27 after 27 years, adopting an amended CATS fare policy and formally handing operational control to the new Metropolitan Public…
Jack Beckett·Jun 1, 2026
Charlotte went from a bus-only city to a rail-connected region to an independent transit authority in 27 years. A companion to the Mercury's coverage of the MTC's dissolution, laid out as a single…
Jack Beckett·May 30, 2026
A late substitute motion placed $2,293,759 in restricted contingency rather than fund a same-day move of MEDIC's EMT minimum wage to the new $25.53 county floor.
Jack Beckett·May 29, 2026
Thirteen new fund-balance allocations cleared at Thursday's FY27 straw vote — eleven external community partners plus two internal Park & Rec restorations.
Jack Beckett·May 29, 2026
A 7-1 vote sends the FY2027 operating budget to ordinance-drafting for June 2 adoption. Roughly $1.6 million in additional fund-balance allocations cleared.
Jack Beckett·May 29, 2026
Charlotte City Council held a public hearing Tuesday on a proposed 150-day moratorium on new telecommunications and data storage facilities.
Jack Beckett·May 27, 2026
Charlotte's city council voted Tuesday to open applications for an interim mayor, 19 days after Mayor Vi Lyles announced her resignation — and the 2027 race question is already on the form.
May 27, 2026
CMS unanimously approved a 99-year lease option with Innovative Housing Solutions Foundation for educator housing adjacent to Garinger High School. IHSF must secure fundraising by June 2027.
Jack Beckett·May 27, 2026
Inside the $2.6 billion budget Mecklenburg commissioners adopt June 2 is the county's share of a $118 million public-safety training complex in Matthews — Central Piedmont's "Community Lifeline,"…
Jack Beckett·May 24, 2026
CRTPO voted May 20 to withdraw support for the I-77 South toll lanes, all but ending a $3.2 billion expansion, removing it from the state's ten-year construction plan, and putting an estimated $700…
Jack Beckett·May 23, 2026
One regional board ended a multibillion-dollar state project. Here is what CRTPO is, how its weighted vote works, and why Charlotte's bloc is large enough to decide the outcome.
Jack Beckett·May 23, 2026
County Manager Michael Bryant's recommended FY2027 budget holds Mecklenburg's property tax rate flat and fully funds Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.
Jack Beckett·May 23, 2026
Charlotte City Council on Monday unanimously approved a partial rezoning of the Manor Theater site on Providence Road, clearing the way for SLRH Acquisitions to redevelop the long-closed Eastover…
Jack Beckett·May 23, 2026
Mission City Church, Freedom Communities, and the True Homes Foundation walked Charlotte City Council through their 49-townhome affordable-housing petition Monday night.
Jack Beckett·May 21, 2026
The Charlotte City Council on Monday rezoned a 0.16-acre Verbena Street parcel from ML-2 (manufacturing and logistics) to TOD-NC, 7-2.
Jack Beckett·May 21, 2026
At Mecklenburg County's May 20 budget overview, Budget Director Adrian Cox put a number on what the county spends covering the state's share of CMS: more than $400 million — about sixteen cents of…
Jack Beckett·May 21, 2026
Council Member Renée Johnson (District 4) brought a manually-compiled CMS school-utilization report to Monday's council meeting to argue that the conventional rezoning process is not tracking the…
Jack Beckett·May 20, 2026
Mecklenburg commissioners got a deliberately neutral briefing on data centers at their May 19 meeting and signaled they want a position on the fast-growing industry.
Jack Beckett·May 20, 2026
Charlotte City Council unanimously approved a 41.26-acre rezoning of the Atrium Health University City hospital campus Monday, switching the property from Institutional Campus 1 to Institutional…
Jack Beckett·May 20, 2026
Council Member Renée Johnson pulled petition 2025-136 — a conventional rezoning at 1800 West Sugar Creek Road by Larry Cooper — off the consent agenda Monday, citing her standing concern about…
Jack Beckett·May 19, 2026
Mayor Vi Lyles had not chaired a 2026 zoning meeting through her current term — Council Member Ed Driggs (District 7) handled each of the four held earlier this year.
Jack Beckett·May 19, 2026
Brendan K. Maginnis, the runner-up in Charlotte's September 2025 Democratic mayoral primary, has volunteered for the interim mayor appointment — from Copenhagen, where his family moved in January…
Jack Beckett·May 16, 2026
Students from Levine Middle College and a Pre-K family advocate used Tuesday's public comment period to ask the CMS Board to protect programs they said were producing results.
Jack Beckett·May 15, 2026
The Board of Education approved a $5.5 million amendment to its Oracle enterprise software contract, extending the implementation and adding hypercare support as the district works toward a full…
Jack Beckett·May 15, 2026
District Court Judge Elizabeth Trosch spent nearly two decades in juvenile court before showing up at the May 12 CMS board meeting to explain what the district's sustained investment in four…
Jack Beckett·May 15, 2026
The MPTA board launched a national CEO search Wednesday and advanced the draft Interlocal Agreement as the July 1 operational transfer deadline approaches.
Jack Beckett·May 15, 2026
Day-of guide to Charlotte's first mandatory Stage 2 restrictions since 2009: the rules, the five-stage Low Inflow Protocol behind them, the burn ban that arrived with them, and what's enforceable…
Jack Beckett·May 13, 2026
Senate Pres. Pro Tem Phil Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall announced a budget framework Tuesday afternoon, ending a ten-month standoff. Teachers get an 8 percent raise and a $48,000 starting floor.
Jack Beckett·May 13, 2026
Two weeks after rejecting Superintendent Crystal Hill's $2.1 billion budget 8-1, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education unanimously approved her amended version on Tuesday.
Jack Beckett·May 13, 2026
Two weeks after a 5-5 deadlock that required Mayor Vi Lyles to break the tie, Charlotte City Council voted unanimously Monday night to schedule a public hearing on a 150-day moratorium on new data…
Jack Beckett·May 13, 2026
Jack Beckett·May 13, 2026
Council convened in special session at 4 p.m. Monday to take up three of Charlotte's biggest active fights — a $4.5 billion budget hearing, a resolution on the I-77 South toll lanes, and the…
Jack Beckett·May 11, 2026
Charlotte Water escalates to Stage 2 of the Low Inflow Protocol on Friday, May 15 — the first mandatory water restrictions since 2009.
Jack Beckett·May 11, 2026
Charlotte Mayor Vi Lyles announced Thursday that she will resign on June 30, ending a tenure that began in 2017. Under North Carolina law, the City Council will appoint a Democrat to serve the…
Jack Beckett·May 9, 2026
At the final public hearing on the Charlotte Area Transit System's Fare Modernization Program, public commenter Carson Cohn told the MTC that CATS had promised him an answer over a month ago on…
Jack Beckett·May 8, 2026
Jack Beckett·May 7, 2026
Jack Beckett·May 7, 2026
CFO Kelly Kluttz told the board the district's $6.6 million salary reserve covers them to about 5 percent — but bills in Raleigh propose up to 9, the state hasn't passed a budget, and the county…
Jack Beckett·May 6, 2026
The rental housing production category of Charlotte's 2024 affordable housing bond is now $5.6 million over its allocation goal.
Jack Beckett·May 5, 2026
Superintendent Crystal Hill's final Program Choice plan, presented to the CMS Board of Education April 28, would consolidate the district's choice programs into six themes, cut programs at 11…
Jack Beckett·Apr 29, 2026
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education voted 8-1 Tuesday night to deny Superintendent Crystal Hill's $2.1 billion budget and gave her two weeks to come back with a revised version…
Jack Beckett·Apr 29, 2026
The Charlotte City Council deadlocked 5-5 Monday night on whether to even schedule a public hearing on a temporary moratorium for new data center approvals. Mayor Vi Lyles broke the tie, voting no.
Jack Beckett·Apr 28, 2026
Charlotte Water shifted to voluntary water restrictions on Monday, April 20 — the first time since 2023 — after the Catawba-Wateree River Basin moved to Stage 1 of its regional Low Inflow Protocol.
Jack Beckett·Apr 26, 2026
