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6 Meck Co., CMS officials hold private meeting on sales tax proposal

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A private meeting involving your tax money has ended.

It's the first meeting between Mecklenburg County leaders and top school district leaders, but some commissioners were told they couldn't attend.

The meeting was exclusive to six people:

County Manager Dena Diorio, Board Chairman Trevor Fuller and Vice Chairman Dumont Clarke, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Superintendent Heath Morrison, School Board President Mary McCray and Vice President Tim Morgan.

Tuesday, members of the board of county commissioners engaged in a heated email exchange.

Some commissioners were concerned when they say they were told they were not invited to attend the meeting.

School board members didn't have the same feelings about not getting an invitation.

"The negative attention was not needed. This was a meeting that was requested by me as board chair to the county's chair. This was not a secret meeting. There was no need to publicize it because it was just leadership to leadership," McCray said.

McCray said the meeting was for clarification on the county's proposal to voters to raise taxes a quarter center to generate $28 million for teacher pay.

Clarke believed the concern over the meeting was political.

"Their only real purpose is to create distrust and try to defeat the referendum," Clarke said.

CMS officials said they'll go back to their board and talk about what the November referendum would mean for the school district if it passes.

County leaders are also looking at what resources it can use to inform the public without persuading them how to vote.

Read our past coverage: 

Some Meck County leaders left out of sales tax discussion