STEELE CREEK NEWS
County Votes to Terminate Contract for CMPD to Service Unincorporated Areas
(April
20,
2017) At its meeting on Monday, April 17, the Mecklenburg County
Board of Commissioners voted to terminate their contract with the
City of Charlotte to provide police services to the unincorporated
areas of Mecklenburg County. See the video of the meeting
HERE. Click on "17-3873 Law Enforcement Service District and
Fire Protection Service Districts Udpdate" in the list under the
video to jump to
the discussion.
The primary
concern came from the Town of Huntersville. The Huntersville mayor,
police chief, and town council members spoke to the Commission about
how they believe the Huntersville Police Department could provide
better service and response times than the Charlotte-Mecklenburg
Police Department within their extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ).
On the map to the
right, the orange area is the Huntersville ETJ. The red area is the
Charlotte ETJ, and includes the unincorporated areas of Steele
Creek. The City of Charlotte provides planning and zoning services
within the red area.
The unincorporated
areas of Mecklenburg County comprise the Law Enforcement Service District. Property
owners pay a supplemental police tax to fund police services by the
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. The Town of Huntersville
would like to receive the supplemental police tax funds from their
ETJ and provide police services there. They claim the City of
Charlotte and CMPD have been unresponsive to their requests.
The tax rate for the
supplemental police tax is determined by the proportion the
population of the Law Enforcement Service District is of the total
CMPD service area. The county commissioners discussed whether the funds
collected are going towards servicing the service area or are going
towards other services within the city. They believe the funds
exceed the service provided since the crime rate is less in the
unincorporated areas.
The county must
give a 14 month notice to terminate the contract. Since funding
extends through the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2018, notice
must be made in April 2017. In order to terminate the contract for
Huntersville, the county must terminate the contract for the entire
Law Enforcement Service Area, including Steele Creek. This is the
action that the County Commission took.
The commissioners
discussed possible legislation that would require Charlotte and the
towns within Mecklenburg County to provide police services within
their ETJs. They also discussed the possibility that the Mecklenburg
County Sheriff's Office might provide services where the city or towns
did not. But these are just speculative possibilities.
The result is that effective July 1, 2018, the unincorporated areas of Steele Creek will not have law enforcement services
unless either Mecklenburg County and the City of Charlotte can come
to an agreement for CMPD to provide these services or the Sheriff's
Office takes over the service.
On the map below,
the pink areas are within the City of Charlotte and receive city
services. The area in white is unincorporated and currently receives
police services by CMPD. Action by the County Commission leaves
this area in limbo unless another arrangement can be worked out by
July 2018.
The Steele
Creek Division office is located at the intersection of Westinghouse
Boulevard and South Tryon Street. Similar to how the Huntersville
Police Department believes it can provide services to their ETJ from
Huntersville better than CMPD can provide them from the North
Division office, Steele Creek Division of CMPD can provide services
to the unincorporated areas of Steele Creek better than the
Sheriff's Office can from central Charlotte.
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