Arlington County stands to lose $3 million over three years after a House of Delegates subcommittee Monday killed a plan to extend the county’s hotel tax — the latest flare-up in a spat between Del. Tim Hugo, R-Fairfax, and Arlington officials. Hugo, who chairs the House Finance subcommittee that considered the tax extension, said he killed it because he objects to a lawsuit Arlington County filed in 2009 to halt the construction of high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes along Interstates 95 and 395.
“Obviously Arlington has an abundance of money if they can be engaged in egregious lawsuits against private individuals,” Hugo said.
The tax bill, introduced by Del. Robert Brink, D-Arlington, was expected to generate $3.4 million from 2012 to 2015 to pay for the county’s tourism promotion.
Arlington may still get an extension of that tax, however. Another version of the bill has already cleared the Senate and is on its way to the House.
“Obviously we’ll see when the Senate bill comes over,” Hugo said. “My position will not change. My position prevailed.”
County officials accused Hugo of bullying them. In addition to opposing the hotel tax, Hugo introduced legislation that would instigate a state investigation of Arlington’s roads and cut off funding for a streetcar line the county wants to build along Columbia Pike.
Hugo said he’s particularly upset that the county’s lawsuit specifically names transportation officials who no longer work for the government.
“It’s going to be tough getting this renewed this year, and we knew it was going to be tough,” county spokeswoman Mary Curtius said of the hotel tax. “We knew it from the beginning, but we’ll make our best effort. We still have a live bill.”
Should the extension not pass, the county board would have to decide whether to replace some or all of the money out of its own budget, Curtius said.
