Carson Cohn was not supposed to speak about the budget. The Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners' rules for public comment are specific on this point: requests related to county funding go to the annual budget public hearing, not regular meetings. When Cohn reached the podium on April 7, Chair Mark Jerrell told him he could not "make an ask with respect to the budget."

Cohn asked the board to make an exception. "I was not aware that I was not allowed to speak on the issue," he said. Commissioner George Dunlap offered a motion to amend the rules. "I'd offer a motion that we amend for this one time," Dunlap said. "He's already here." It passed without discussion. Then Cohn told the board what he had seen.

What He Saw

The Catherine M. Wilson Center on Billingsley Road — a county facility that for years processed Medicaid applications, food assistance, and energy aid for residents on public assistance — closed its lobby to the public on December 31. The county publicized the closure through signs at the building, local news broadcasts, and its website, directing residents to two remaining Community Resource Centers: the Ella B. Scarborough CRC on Stitt Road in northeast Charlotte, which opened in 2023, or the Valerie C. Woodard CRC on Freedom Drive in west Charlotte. Services are also available online at epass.nc.gov.

Cohn, a Mecklenburg County employee, said he had worked three days in the Wilson Center's front lobby within the previous three weeks. Each day, he said, an average of more than 45 people came to the building only to be told it was closed.

"The deputy director of the Wilson Center told me it would cost the county $40,000 to send a postcard in the mail to everyone on public assistance, letting them know of the closure," Cohn said.

He put that figure next to another one. "According to your last budget meeting," he told the board, "the county is scheduled to have an excess of $60 million at the end of 2026, assuming the one cent is not adjusted to pay off debt more quickly."

"But for those struggling in the community," Cohn said, "paying off debt is a dream that is hard to imagine."

"Please do not let them spend money on the bus and time off work to waste a trip to Wilson," he said, "just so that the county can pay off debt faster."

Who Is Not Being Heard

Cohn also addressed a remark that Vice Chair Leigh Altman made at a previous budget meeting. According to Cohn, Altman had said she receives requests for parks and not community resource centers.

"People on public assistance often do not have free time to advocate for such a need," Cohn responded. "They are more worried about where their next meal will come from or where they might sleep."

He acknowledged the county's homelessness initiatives — Chair Jerrell had highlighted them in a recent State of the County address — and said he had been "spreading the good news in the community." But the Wilson Center closure, he said, was still catching people unaware.

"I understand that some people believe that there are those who like being on public assistance, and I cannot confirm nor deny this," Cohn said. "I can say that many people would love the freedom that comes with a higher income."

What the Wilson Center Was

The building at 301 Billingsley Road operated for years as the county's primary walk-in facility for economic services. It was known as the Wallace H. Kuralt Center until October 2024, when the board voted unanimously to rename it after Catherine M. Wilson, a Charlotte social worker who became Mecklenburg County's first Black program administrator in 1978 as director of Youth and Family Services. Kuralt served as the county's director of public welfare from 1945 to 1972. He played a role in administering North Carolina's involuntary sterilization program.

The county closed the lobby as part of a broader transition to its Community Resource Centers, which offer employment assistance, child support services, public health, veterans services, and behavioral health counseling alongside the Medicaid and food assistance programs the Wilson Center handled. The building is slated for renovation.

What Happened Next

Nothing, procedurally. The board's rules prohibit commissioners from engaging in dialogue with public comment speakers. Chair Jerrell thanked Cohn. Another commissioner did the same. Cohn returned to his seat, and the board moved to appointments for the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Advisory Board.

The county's FY2027 budget process is underway. The same meeting featured a charged exchange over property tax legislation that ended with Jerrell directing staff to explore litigation against the state. A community survey presented to the board that night found that 48.8 percent of respondents would accept a slight tax increase to fund their top service priorities — down from 51 percent the previous year. The top priority, for the second consecutive year, was affordable housing.

Postcards were not discussed again.