Transportation, education top Fairfax's wish-list to Richmond
By: William C. Flook
Examiner Staff Writer
November 13, 2009
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| Fairfax County supervisors plan to ask state legislators to find new long-term funding to help Virginia battle its growing transportation troubles. The supervisors have also put minimizing cuts to education on their wish list. (Examiner file) |
Fairfax County will look to blunt lawmakers' budget knife on education funding while asking for state legislators to find new long-term transportation dollars.
County supervisors, in a draft of their legislative wish list to the General Assembly for its upcoming 2010 session, will deliver a host of requests to Richmond that also include asking for increased money to control the spread of Lyme disease and discouraging the use of paper bags.
The annual legislative package -- which will be the subject of a public hearing on Monday -- is a frequent source of frustration for county officials, who have for years been rebuffed in requests like banning handguns in public facilities and writing gays into anti-discrimination laws. Both items will likely be on the agenda again this year.
But fiscal issues are more paramount than ever, with both the state and county facing gaping shortfalls for the upcoming fiscal year.
As a top priority, the county wants to ensure that any state funding cuts to K-12 education are temporary, so as to prevent a permanent new financial burden of local governments. Education funding is unlikely to emerge unscathed from next year's legislative session.
"We would like to make sure that we're held as harmless as possible during these difficult times," said Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Sharon Bulova.
Also at the top of the list is finding sustainable new money for roads, a goal that has long eluded the legislature. The county has yet to endorse any specific tax plan.
"What was once a crisis in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads is quickly becoming a catastrophe for the entire commonwealth," county staff wrote in a report on the legislative package. "There is no viable transportation solution that does not include long-term, dedicated, sustainable new multi-modal revenues."
The county also wants a series of environmental initiatives. Among those proposals, supervisors will ask for the state to develop a strategy to curb endocrine disruptors, chemicals linked to the problem transgender "intersex" fish in the Potomac, and ask for legislation to encourage the use of reusable shopping bags.
