Budget season begins for Charlotte City Council with focus on public safety

You can find the full interview below:

Joe Bruno: We’ll start with public safety. Since you’re on the public safety, you chair the Public Safety Committee. Yes, we heard from Chief Patterson. She says crime is down, but more needs to be done. What were some of your takeaways in terms of public safety from the retreat?

Dante Anderson, (D) District 1: Well, it’s clear that public safety is the center of the plate for everyone, right? Just given the environment last year and as we’re moving forward, everyone is concerned about public safety. The good news is we had great numbers last year. So CMPD did a wonderful job across the board. However, as we go into 2026 we have a focus on public safety, because it’s a very difficult year over year to produce double digit decline, and so the chief is focused on a couple of things. One is making sure these vacancies that she has are going to be filled. That’s first and foremost. Second Secondly, using and leveraging technology to help the our good police officers do the work that they need to do. So they’re looking at the use of drones and arriving first and helping to identify suspects and lay out the scene of the crime, et cetera. And then, thirdly, just making sure that our officers are in a competitive environment relative to other cities and other law enforcement agencies, so doing things like having take home cars for them, making sure their pay is where it needs to be. And so as we the City Council moves into the budget season, we’re going to be paying attention not only to CMPD, but also Charlotte fire and making sure they’re they have some level of parity.

JB: So is it possible to do all of this without a property tax increase?

DA: ‚That is the biggest question on the table, right? We as a council, have been good stewards with our taxpayers’ dollars because we’ve not raised taxes. We’ve raised it once, and I think, believe, seven years. And so we really do not want to walk into a budget season with the initial understanding that we’re going to raise taxes. However, just given the environment that we’re in, there’s a lot of pressure. And really, the city only really makes money through a tax based environment right outside of our enterprise funds. And so it’s going to be a difficult conversation this year, a multi-conversation, because these conversations last over months around who gets the priority in the budget. But I can tell you that public safety is top of mind for every single member of council, as well as the mayor and the city manager.

JB: When it comes to like addressing public safety and crime in general, there are boots on the ground, the more police officers, the higher the pay, and the technology. But there’s also, like, that investment in the community ahead of time to prevent things down the road, and that 1000 intern promise with the city of Charlotte. Can you tell me what exactly you are looking for with these 1000 interns? Where will they be working? How can people get involved here?

DA: So this is really, really exciting, and I think they really let the cat out of the bag during the retreat, because they weren’t quite ready to announce it, but we were asking so many questions. The short of it is the Mayor’s Youth Employment Program has really been enhanced this year. So instead of having one type of internship, they’re going to have multiple types. So you’ll have a two week, a four week, a six week internship, where young people can opt into spending two weeks with either a city, a city department, or the challenge that we’re putting forth to the community is saying, hey, for small business owners, for large business owners, if you have an opportunity for young, a young person, to spend a couple weeks with you this summer, please raise your hand and allow that young person To be a part of your organization and get exposed to it. What we understand is when young people, in particular, young males, have an opportunity to expand their horizon and be a part of something that’s productive, that keeps them out of harm’s way, it keeps them off the streets. It keeps them engaged with the community. So this major youth employment program for 1000 jobs is phenomenal.

JB: Let’s turn now to economic development projects, because that was a cool presentation, too, just seeing what the future of some of our big tourism drivers could look like. We’re talking about renovations to Truist Field, Discovery Place, and Charlotte Ballet. What stands out to you about these proposals?

DA: Well, what’s really great about that? At the end of that presentation, I thought, " Wow, the Queen City just has so much going on, we really have so much for our residents. And the interesting aspect about Bojangles in particular is one in three visitors for the boplex, so that’s Ovens Auditorium or the Bojangles Coliseum. They travel over 100 miles, Joe to come to have that experience, which means they’re not only coming to have an experience, but they’re staying in our hotels, they’re eating in our restaurants, and they’re probably engaging in the community in a different way. So that’s really, really promising. And it says that we have something special going on here. Now. We have lots of facilities, and there are lots of needs, right? The need state is very high. I think first and foremost, we have to take care of Bojangles. And the boplex has been around for 70 years, and it’s proven to be a driver and a deliverer of tourism and hospitality. So the boplex needs to be invested in. But then, when we look at other opportunities, like the ballet, we look at the truest field. So many cool and different things go on at truist right here in the heart of the city. We have to look at all of these investments and figure out, wow, how do we want to move? And then when we look at our at the actual capital allotment, where can it come from, whether it’s the tourism dollars or other opportunities.

JB: So what would you tell, like, the taxpayer, like why it’s important to invest in things like Truist Field, where, you know, maybe there’s a private owner that is like profiting off of it. Where does the city benefit from investing in these facilities?

DA: , Well, it’s a balance. And that’s what I would say to residents. It’s a balance. Look, I live here too. I pay taxes. I’m a resident of the city of Charlotte so I never want to see taxes increase, just in namesake only, but for these entities, like Truist Field and others, you know, we’ve seen, not only is Truist Field the home of our baseball team, but they bring the community together. You know, I think about the holiday season, where you can go. Brewers Field, and you can ice skate, you can tube. I think about the Savannah bananas and how they’ve brought these major monarchy events to the city, right? And so it’s a balance of thinking about, well, how does that activity, then double down and pay back into the community, through the restaurants, through the hotels, through other opportunities that families have to engage with the city of Charlotte, right?

JB: One last thing that kind of stood out to me about the retreat was what you guys started with, the discussion about trust. It was just a little unusual to see so much time dedicated to just working together. How do you feel City Council has been this term so far? Do you guys trust each other? Do you think you guys can work well together for the next two years?

DA: Well, you know, I think that conversation actually caught a lot of folks, a lot of council members, off guard, because we walked in on the very first day, and it’s like, whoa. We’re talking about trust and organizational aspects. You know, I think the council is interesting this term because we have three new members, which is rare. It’s rare to have three brand new members in one particular year, and all three of the members are not shy; they’re very vocal. They’re leaning into issues. And so I think we have a level of communication and dialog that’s good. It’s healthy. My hope is that throughout the year, we’ll continue to have that level of engagement and dialogue.

>> You also watch the full conversation with Anderson in the video at the top of the page.

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