Veteran conservative offers sales tax hike to pay for roads

RICHMOND

The debate about how to fix Virginia's crumbling transportation system took a dramatic turn Wednesday when a powerful senior lawmaker tried and failed to buck the no-new-taxes mantra of the governor and legislative leadership.

Del. Lacey Putney of Bedford, the only independent and in his 51st year in the House of Delegates, presented a proposal to call a November referendum on raising the state sales tax to 6 percent, from 5 percent, with half of the new revenue dedicated to transportation.

A Republican-controlled House subcommittee tabled the measure on a party-line vote, probably dooming its chances.

It was a remarkable moment, however, not because of how the vote turned out but because of who Putney is.

The Assembly's minority Democrats have submitted a variety of tax measures, which routinely are voted down.

But Putney, the gravel-voiced chairman of the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, is a blunt-speaking conservative and fiscal hawk who normally votes with the Republican majority. Submitting a tax-increase measure was a bold challenge to Gov. Bob McDonnell and the Assembly leadership, who have drawn a line in the sand against any new taxes.

"I'm not known to be a big tax-and-spender," Putney told the House Finance panel, but the roads in his western Virginia district are in "horrible" condition. They are "very, very unsafe," he said.

His constituents are asking him, "Why don't you do something?" he said. "So I decided to put this little bill in."

That "little bill," HB1239, would have produced an estimated $1 billion a year in revenue if approved by the voters.

Half would have been dedicated to road construction and maintenance, and the other half to education and mental health services.

Putney said he had not asked anyone to speak on behalf of his bill, but a line of speakers did just that. Representatives of Virginia's cities, counties, sheriffs, state troopers, teachers and highway contractors pleaded for its passage.

"Our transportation system is failing," Jeff Southard, executive vice president of the Virginia Transportation Construction Alliance, told the panel. He said the state, facing $4 billion in unmet needs for its transportation infrastructure, is diverting $450 million a year from road construction to maintenance.

"In less than five years, we'll have no construction program left," he said.

Bill Sizemore, 804-697-1560, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com