N.C. cities should tackle growth together

We all know Charlotte is feeling explosive growth. Last week the U.S. Census released a population report showing Charlotte at No. 7 among metro areas in 2006 growth. This links to the Observer's story.

The city's six-county metro area (Anson, Cabarrus, Gaston, Mecklenburg, Union and York counties) added more than 61,500 people last year. Raleigh-Cary was No. 15.

Why bring up the obvious? Because as the Raleigh stats make clear, Charlotte isn't facing its growth pains alone. Plenty of other N.C. cities and towns have our problems: Overcrowded schools and not enough county money to build what's needed without raising property tax rates beyond what's politically acceptable. Development rules that aren't adequate to protect the environment, and slack enforcement.

In Wake County, a grass roots group of residents has formed Wake Up Wake County. They're pushing for, among other things, permission from the N.C. legislature to enact a real estate transfer tax. That's one of the revenue sources that's been talked about -- or more accurately, whispered about -- in Mecklenburg as well, by City Council as well as County Manager Harry Jones.

Wake Up Wake County reports that 15 different bills have been introduced in the legislature so far that would allow a real estate transfer tax or allow local governments, in their wisdom or foolishness, to choose from a menu of tax options that includes the transfer tax.

Currently the only tax that cities and counties can raise without legislative permission is the property tax. Some fees can also be raised without kissing the rings in Raleigh. That's why there are so many local government fees.

Sen. Dan Clodfelter, a Charlotte Democrat, has introduced a bill that would more than double the existing tax on real estate sales, which is now $1 for every $500 in value. He told the Observer's Jim Morrill that it was essentially a bill holding space for any proposals that might come out of a commission he co-chairs that's looking at the whole state tax system.

Of course, within about 20 seconds the N.C. Association of Realtors had launched a huge campaign with signs, TV, radio and print ads calling a transfer tax "the home tax." "Taxing the equity in your home is like taxing the American Dream," one ad says. "It's a bad idea." It was almost as if they had that campaign all ready, and were just waiting for a bill to be filed.

But, isn't the property tax also a home tax? And if your revaluations are minimally current, doesn't it, too, tax your home equity, or at least part of it?

My overall point is not so much about whether a real estate transfer tax is the best thing since sliced bread, but to note that the only way North Carolina's fast-growing urban areas will get diddly out of the power-stingy legislature is to work together. Instead of, or even better, in addition to Wake Up Wake County, we need a Wake Up North Carolina group who will go to bat for Charlotte, Raleigh, Asheville, Wilmington and all the other booming urban areas.