The Virginian-Pilot
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RICHMOND
Leaders in the House of Delegates said Sunday they will try to craft new regional transportation plans for Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia during the remaining six days scheduled for this year's General Assembly session.
Lawmakers fell under intense pressure to seek new solutions Friday when the Virginia Supreme Court struck down regional transportation authorities set up for the two population centers, ruling that nonelected bodies cannot raise taxes.
Many legislators say they believe it is too late and too complicated to fix the road plan this winter and that the General Assembly will need to come back in special session later this year to deal with the transportation needs of the state's two most populous regions.
"I don't think it's going to happen in the next week," said Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax.
But House leaders say there may be a fairly simple fix, albeit one that may compromise regional continuity in future transportation plans for Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia.
Under the law that the high court ruled was unconstitutional, authorities were going to raise taxes for all cities and counties in their regions if the governing boards of a majority of the localities agreed to join the entities.
In Hampton Roads, nine of 12 local governments voted to join. That forced the three that didn't - the cities of Hampton and Poquoson and York County - to also join and be subject to taxes approved by the authority. The nine that approved the authority are the cities of Chesapeake, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach and Williamsburg, and the counties of Isle of Wight and James City.
Under a plan being advanced Sunday by House Republican leaders, the power given by the General Assembly to raise new taxes for roads would be vested in each local government - not an authority. The change, the House GOP leaders says, would comply with the court's finding that only an elected body - either the General Assembly or a city or county's governing body - can raise taxes.
House Speaker William Howell floated the proposal at a private meeting Sunday afternoon attended by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine and seven senior members of the House and Senate.
Kaine encouraged the lawmakers to move forward but did not endorse or criticize the House proposal, according to Delacey Skinner, a spokeswoman for the governor.
On Friday, Kaine voiced skepticism that lawmakers could find a solution during the final week of the session, when the House and Senate are also in final negotiations for a two-year, $77 billion state budget.
House leaders say it can be done.
"If we can put together a state budget with 100 moving pieces in a week, then we should be able to put together a transportation plan," said Del. Kirk Cox, R-Colonial Heights.
The regional plan struck down by the courts was the result of two years of heated debate between the House and Senate.
Before Friday's ruling, the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority was to begin collecting a series of new taxes and fees May 1 that would have increased the cost of gasoline as well as car repairs, rentals and sales. The authority also would have required a higher tax on home sales and higher fees for car registrations and inspections.
The revenues would be used for several major transportation projects that include a new Midtown Tunnel, widening the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel and Interstate 664 in Newport News and the south side, and rebuilding Dominion Boulevard.
If each locality in Hampton Roads is called on to approve new taxes, the result may be that transportation improvements are largely limited to South Hampton Roads, where each of the five cities voted to join the authority.
Peninsula localities have been far from enthusiastic. In addition to the three that voted not to join the authority, two others - the city of Newport News and James City County - have threatened to withdraw their support.
Warren Fiske, (804) 697-1565, warren.fiske@pilotonline.com
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Observation followed with a question
Ever notice all of these projects that are started in the name of providing tax income in future? I am almost 40 and it never seems to happen. Just more and more money is taken for projects but taxes never go down. I am afraid Mr. Tabor has a strong point here. If the ports cannot even pay for their own infrastructure w/o our support; we really are not receiving income now are we? We are just paying to prop up business' that are not profitable enough to subsist w/o being subsidised?
Dear Confused - local taxes to go to HRTA
Dear "confused", you ask a great question. One that is not being discussed by the manistream media. I believe the answer is that local cities will "collect" the "regional taxes" and then tranfer the "regional tax money" to the HRTA to spend. It is a scam being designed in Richmond to work around the constitution and it results in the same thing as before, just technically this scam results in taxation with representation because the local governments will be collecting the taxes. However, they will have no real choice because they will be obligated to pay back the bond debt. It is another slimey Ken Stolle/Frank Wagner ploy for the General Assembly to ignore the obvious intent of the state Constitution. The point being that we don't have an elected regional government.
Mike What Federal Matching Money?
The federal government is broke and is borrowing money from the likes of Communist China. Maybe they will print some more, after all it's just engraved numbers on paper. We citizens Mike, will soon be broke. The full impact of the Sub-prime Mortgage Scam to our economy hasn't been felt yet. When my foolish, republican voting, Dr. of Economics, Ivy League Professor, published, brother-in-law says that it is all over but the shouting and is using words even too foul for a Navy veteran like myself...well. There is no money for road construction, for national defense, for our health care needs, for retirement, for anything. Bread is $4.00 a loaf, gasoline is $3.15 for regular ($4.50 by December according to the experts) milk is......Inflation is destroying the value of the dollar, and considering the fact that materials such as steel for these transportation projects will be purchased from foreign sources......Mike, all bets are off, the cost of these transportation projects could easily be double or triple before they are built and improbable as it sounds, most likely be even higher.
The House
The House of Delegates need to stand their ground.
What Reid Doesn't Get
On the one hand, he complains about congestion at the HRBT. On the other hand, he opposes The Third Crossing - and light rail.
The "solution" he has proposed as Virginia Beach Taxpayers Alliance (VBTA) Transportation Chairman is additional tubes for the HRBT...while leaving the approach roads untouched. That's at least $2.5 billion to do nothing more than move the choke points. With taxpayer advocates like the VBTA, the taxpayers don't need any enemies.
The ultimate solution is The Third Crossing with light rail through it's multimodal tubes. Instead of getting caught in traffic on an interstate, you can let the train whisk you through.
Finally, pass SB 798. Please.
NOT A HISTORY BUFF BUT.......
i think our country began its birth b/c of taxation without representation. is that being stuck in the 19th century? you may not know where money is coming from for your roads or for anything else but you shouldn't disregaurd the constituiton of the united states of america to get what you want. you should find a decent way to do it. the one thing that seemed pretty low to me about the hampton roads transit authority was they wanted to tax car repairs. that is just wrong on so many levels and really speaks to why the person taxing you should be held accoutable......they can get out of hand.
Back to Basics
No argument there. Back to basics, that is exactly what we need to do. The last time the gas tax was increased in Virginia was in 1986 and of course we have the lowest gas tax in the mid Atlantic region except to one state. Point is, if you want the metropolitan regions which are the engines of economic growth, that is, Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads, to continue to lead the Commonwealth to prosperity then you need to create and maintain a first class transportation network of ports, roads, railways, and airports. Frankly, we don't do this in Virginia, and the two regions which drive economic growth are stymied by a House of Delegates still living in the 19th Century. What to do? We need to elect a new House of Delegates, and especially a new Speaker of the House. Howell has been an absolute disaster, and his influence has corrupted those who aspire to lead the Commonmwealth in the future. For now, he must deliver the House to support his past decision to build new transportation infrstructure. If not, resign.
I'd still like to see answers as to where existing taxes go.
I'd like to know how much of our road funds are spent on the following: Interstate Camera System (installation, maintenance and manpower to observe), Motorist Assistance Vehicles and Manning, Hurricane Gates (future toll gates?), Foolish Embedded Reflectors, The Multitude of Signs (motorist should be using a little common sense), Constant grass cutting (vice just planting an evergreen ground cover), Guard rails instead of just planting shrubs for barriers (azaleas seem to do good and you don't have to replace them or cut the weeds under them). Then there are other solutions that could keep traffic moving better: Instead of HOV lanes, how about converting them into express lanes so that traffic thru traffic doesn't get slowed down by cars trying to exit. Have the express lanes speed limit 10MPH faster and ticket cars that impede traffic (I see cars riding side by side everyday, sometimes going 10mph UNDER the limit). Cut the silly low power traffic info radio system off (no one uses it and it's not updated info anyway so quit funding it). Do we really need all these lights? Cars have headlights. Stop wasting the funds we have on nice to haves, let's get back to basics.
Do your job GA!!!
I don't know what the big deal is except that it is a political game. For goodness sake, a state road improvement should be funded with state money raised by state officials and local roads improvements such as Rosemont, Kempsville and Great Neck Rds should be funded by city council. Why should city council ask us to pay more if it isn’t going to improve traffic flow on our local streets? The state highway system is a state issue and the GA should bite the bullet and do their jobs finding a way to raise the taxes for these projects. Tolls on those using the state highways are the way to begin addressing the issue. The GA should get its act together and stop playing games. If I were a city council rep, I wouldn't raise taxes to fund a single state road. It is the state's responsibility to raise their own taxes if they want to fix the traffic problems.
Confused
How can the cities be expected to collect these taxes? I've always been taught that when a locality taxes from it's citizens those taxes are supposed to be used in that locality only. Virginia Beach real estate taxes are only used in Va. Beach. They can't be used in Norfolk or Chesapeake. So what would make these taxes any different? So taxes collected in Va. Beach couldn't be used for the third crossing.