High Point Council Pauses Downtown Municipal Services District After Mixed Surveys

The High Point City Council voted on Feb. 17 to pause active consideration of creating a downtown municipal services district after staff and council members reviewed recent survey results that showed mixed support among downtown stakeholders, city reporting shows. HPenews updated its item on the pause at Feb. 19, 2026 @ 8:12 am.

An MSD is a defined area where city officials levy an additional tax to enhance services such as public transit, a tool already in use in North Carolina cities including Greensboro and Winston-Salem. City staff presented the MSD concept to the council as a potential funding mechanism for targeted downtown services during the Feb. 17 presentation that prompted the pause.

Two stakeholder surveys presented to council produced opposing signals. WHQR reported that a Business High Point survey showed a majority of respondents did not support a new district, while a separate Downtown High Point survey produced a plurality in favor. The available reporting provides no numeric percentages, sample sizes, dates of the surveys, respondent overlap, or question wording for either survey.

Council members cited concern about disrupting downtown growth when supporting the pause. WHQR reported that “several council members supported a pause on establishing a new district, saying they didn’t want to disrupt downtown’s growth.” HPenews additionally reported the council wants to hear feedback from property owners within the boundaries of a possible municipal service district before deciding whether to proceed.

City Manager Tasha Logan Ford placed the MSD conversation in a budgetary and operational context during the council presentation. Ford said, “Every year that we continue to build in new services or new activities as part of the city's operating budget, when we establish an MSD, we have to be prepared to go above and beyond that.” WHQR also paraphrased Ford saying that what would trigger revisiting the MSD discussion “will change as the area evolves,” framing the pause as contingent on future changes in downtown conditions.

The pause does not include a recorded timeline or vote tally in the available reporting. None of the coverage reviewed provides the council motion language, vote count, a proposed map of MSD boundaries, projected tax rates, or a fiscal impact analysis. The reporting also contains no direct statements from individual council members, property owners, downtown business leaders, or neighborhood organizations.

Next steps cited by the council in HPenews and WHQR are limited to gathering input: council members signaled they want property-owner feedback within the proposed boundaries and staff noted the city will revisit the issue as downtown evolves. For now, High Point’s deliberations are on hold and officials say any future MSD would require planning to deliver services above and beyond the city’s operating budget, as Ford emphasized.