Gov. Tim Kaine and Democratic legislators are objecting to a key plank in the Republicans’ transportation funding plan, but GOP lawmakers appear unwilling to adjust the accord.
Part of the agreement would use $250 million each year out of the state’s general fund for transportation. Traditionally, Virginia has paid for transportation through a set of specific funding sources and reserved the general fund for programs that are considered basic government services, such as schools and police.
The state can afford the $250 million now, but Democrats worry that if the economy slows in the future, the budgets of the essential government programs would suffer.
“If you spend it on transportation, you won’t have it for schools, Medicaid, the police or anything else, and that concerns me,” said Del. Robert Hull, D-Falls Church.
House Speaker William Howell, R-Stafford, said Wednesday that the general fund would lag in the long run without new transportation spending because a shoddy transportation network would stifle the state’s economic growth, which creates tax revenue for the general fund.
“[The bill] does not — and will not — negatively affect any of the other core services provided by the commonwealth,” Howell told the House Appropriations Committee, which held a briefing on the funding plan Wednesday afternoon.
Lawmakers who want to keep the general fund revenue away from transportation in Virginia follow a nationwide trend. Matt Sundeen, a transportation policy analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures, said few states use cash from the general fund in their transportation budgets.
“Even in the states that do use money from the general fund, it is a very little amount,” he said.
The $250 million represents only 1.3 percent of the general fund this year, Republicans said, and that percentage will only shrink in future years as the commonwealth collects more revenue, meaning plenty of money should be available for other programs. Spending on schools, higher education and mental health care increased by double-digit percentages this year, according to the GOP.
“This plan does not cut $1 from education, higher education, anything,” said Del. Tim Hugo, R-Fairfax.
