CHARLOTTE — The newly formed Metropolitan Public Transportation Authority is set to hold its inaugural meeting Thursday night, following the approval of a new 1% sales tax for transit by Mecklenburg County voters in November.
The new board will have a light agenda, but it will mark the beginning of major changes coming to the way CATS is run.
The vast majority of the 27-person board has already been established. The last member still has to be appointed by Gov. Josh Stein.
Thursday’s meeting will address rules, term selection and officer elections. The board is also set to adopt a P.A.V.E. studies report, which establishes that the board has to do a study on how CATS is currently operating.
One of the biggest issues the group will tackle involves security on the light rail. In the wake of the murder of Iryna Zarutska and another stabbing in recent weeks on the light rail, many people will be keeping an eye on whether the MPTA forms its own police force to help make public transportation safe in Mecklenburg County. Other transit authorities, like MARTA in Atlanta, have already formed them and have hundreds of sworn officers.
The board will also oversee other projects, like the Red Line extension, which would turn 22 miles of Norfolk Southern railroad tracks into a commuter rail from Uptown to Iredell County.
The transit tax will take effect July 1 and raise the sales tax from 7.25% to 8.25%. Leaders say 40% of the revenue will go to roads, another 40% to rail and 20% will go to buses.
The inaugural MPTA meeting will start at 6 p.m. It’ll be held at the Valerie C. Woodard Conference Center in Charlotte.
Tune in to Channel 9 Eyewitness News, and check back with wsoctv.com for updates on this story.
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