At Tuesday night’s Waxhaw Board of Commissioners meeting, something deeply cynical happened—something every taxpayer should know about. Our Town’s finances were held hostage by a desperate political majority.
Commissioner Susanna Wedra and I (Commissioner Richard Daunt) stood united for a revenue-neutral tax rate of 26.2 cents for the 2025–2026 budget. That’s the rate that keeps town revenues steady after reassessment—adjusted for inflation and population growth, and fair to our residents.
We made a motion to adopt that rate. It was immediately voted down by the entrenched majority: Mayor Pro Tem Brenda McMillon, Commissioner Tracy Wesolek, and Commissioner Jason Hall.
Our Town Held Hostage
Here’s where it gets ugly: when we asked what rate they were seeking, they refused to say, with the exception of a motion by Commissioner Wesolek for a 32 cent rate, supported by Mayor Pro Tem McMillon. They then demanded the final vote be unanimous—a pretext for one thing only: to coerce us into voting for a higher rate, and then run around falsely claiming “The Waxhaw Wall raised your taxes.”
And yes, this is an election year. Their seats are up. You can connect the dots.
Ironically—and hypocritically—Commissioner Jason Hall recently wrote a blog post extolling the virtues of a revenue-neutral tax rate (now removed, download the archive here). When given the opportunity to vote for that very thing, he not only opposed it, he weaponized the process to manufacture a political talking point.
This isn’t leadership. It’s theater—and it puts your wallet and your town’s stability at risk.
Cuts Rejected
We proposed smart, responsible cuts—about 4% of the budget, which has ballooned by 70% in the last five years, far outpacing population growth and inflation (which would justify only 56%). Our proposals didn’t cut staff and wouldn’t have harmed public services. But they were rejected out of hand.
Commissioner Hall then used a cheap stunt: he paraded department heads to the podium to plead for higher taxes—turning staff into political props. Furthermore, in a moment of pure performance, he moved to slash commissioner stipends to almost nothing… until his own ally Commissioner Wesolek pushed back, saying she needed the money. The motion magically disappeared.
State Takeover Threat
For four hours, Susanna and I stood our ground. But the alternative to compromise was allowing the Local Government Commission (LGC) to step in and take over our finances—likely keeping the rate at the prior 38.5 cents. That would have been a catastrophe.
So we compromised at 29 cents. Not because we wanted to. But because we refused to let political gamesmanship lead to financial disaster.
Mayor Murray, seeing what was unfolding, understandably lost his patience. The town’s stability was being held hostage so that a flailing majority could try to rewrite history and blame the very people trying to protect the taxpayers.
The record is clear:
- They voted down revenue-neutral.
- They refused transparency.
- They rejected real budget reform.
- They set a trap and hoped we’d fall into it.
We didn’t. We fought for you.