Members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors have asked Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine to veto a major transportation-funding bill unless several changes are made. Citing “poison pills” in the measure that could cost the county millions, supervisors approved a motion requesting the veto during their Monday meeting.
County officials do not like the bill’s provision requiring they and their colleagues in other jurisdictions — and not the state legislature — be the ones to approve higher taxes and fees for regional projects.
Also atop their list of concerns is the bill’s requirement that if the increases are approved, local governments would be responsible for projects’ planning and designs costs, something the state funds.
“That is a poison pill that we will not willingly swallow,” Board Chairman Gerald Connolly said. “This is the most odious part of the bill.”
Other sections of the bill would give localities more responsibility for maintenance and construction of secondary roads, but they are optional and provide for state funding to be transferred to the local governments to cover the new costs.
Northern Virginians should not have to pay higher taxes if the state is going to shift new responsibilities onto the counties that will eat up some of the revenue, Connolly said.
“We already pay more than our fair share in taxes,” he said, “and now we are being asked [to] pay more taxes to solve our problem. People are not going to be willing to pay higher taxes if the state is going [to] shift costs to us instead of fixing the problem.”
Kaine, a former mayor of Richmond, said he is sympathetic to localities’ concerns and plans on talking with Northern Virginia officials to get input as he crafts his amendments to the bill. A meeting could happen as soon as next week.
“The unfunded mandates in this bill are unfair to local governments,” Kaine said.
Northern Virginia lawmakers involved in drafting the bill said the county’s concerns may be easily resolved with some mild tweaking.
“We’re 95 percent of the way there,” Del. Tim Hugo, R-Fairfax said. “There’s too much money on the table for Northern Virginia for anyone to talk away.”
