Opposition to CMS Bond Package in Northern Mecklenburg County

CHARLOTTE, NC – This fall voters will decide whether to approve a nearly $1 Billion bond package for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. The money would go toward building new schools and replacing others. But leaders in one part of the county say they’re being left out.

“North Mecklenburg, especially Huntersville, we’re exploding with people coming here,” explains Huntersville Mayor John Aneralla.

He points to growth as the reason his side of the county should see more money from CMS Bonds.

The current package would fund 29 projects across the county but only two projects in district one.

One of those would be a new elementary school. The other is classroom additions to Mountain Island K-8.

Critics say it’s not enough.

“We know what’s happening in our town and we know in just in the last year and a half we’ve probably passed, you know, 1100 new homes,” Aneralla says.

County Commissioner Pat Cotham says she gets the frustration.

“I certainly understand it. I’ve heard them, they’re very disappointed in it, but I’ve heard the same things of other parts of the community as well,” she says.

Cotham says the area did benefit from bond projects in 2007 and 2013.

“We have a very huge bond. And I think CMS tries to, you know, rotate it, so one time you get a lot and then it may change,” she says.

CMS shared a statement with WCCB Charlotte that reads in part.. “Families in the north have benefited from past bonds. Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools is a unified city-county district–what benefits one area benefits the whole.”

But critics say being left out doesn’t help build support in the community.

“Well we’ve always felt like a net giver in terms of whether it’s school bond money or taxes, or what have you,” Aneralla says.