The Virginia Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of a local business owner who argues Fairfax County is unfairly taxing property owners to fund the Dulles Metrorail expansion project.
The state’s highest court recently granted an appeal to FFW Enterprises, a Tysons Corner-based commercial real estate owner. FFW is challenging Fairfax County’s establishment of a special tax district that excludes residential property owners.
Fairfax County created the tax district to help pay for its share of the Dulles Metrorail expansion project, which will cost more than $5 billion.
The special tax district charges commercial and industrial real estate owners 22 cents per $100 of assessed property value in addition to normal property taxes. Residential property owners are exempt from the additional tax.
“This is not about opposing rail. My client supports transportation improvements,” said attorney Robert Jackson of General Counsel, the law firm representing FFW Enterprises.
“We believe that under the Virginia Constitution the county doesn’t have the authority to levy this tax just on commercial property owners,” Jackson said.
Residents as well as business owners will benefit from the new Metrorail line, and so the burden of paying for the expansion project should fall on all property owners within the special tax district, Jackson said.
Close proximity to Metrorail trains “always” benefits surrounding property values, both commercial and residential, according to Pauline Thompson, president of Tysons Realty in Fairfax.
Thompson said area real estate values have already jumped in anticipation of the new Dulles rail line.
“It’s really a very simple legal issue,” Jackson said. “It’s unfair that my client is forced to pay and some others aren’t.”
Brian Worthy, a spokesman for Fairfax County, said the county would not comment on pending litigation.
FFW Enterprises first filed its suit against the county and the Fairfax Board of Supervisors in December of 2008. A Fairfax County circuit judge ruled in favor of the county authorities, prompting the property owner’s appeal to the state’s highest legal authority.
Jackson said he anticipated a decision from the Virginia Supreme Court later this year.
