Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine received earfuls of ideas Wednesday on how to improve the transportation-funding package during a 90-minute closed-door meeting with Northern Virginia elected officials.
“Transportation is a crisis in Northern Virginia, but so too is the bill as it now stands,” Scott York, chairman of Loudoun County’s Board of Supervisors, said after the meeting at the Fairfax County Government Center.
Local officials do not like that they must vote to implement tax and fee increases that will raise about $400 million a year for the region under the bill. They would prefer the legislature cast those votes. If the localities do not impose the higher taxes and fees, a significant portion of the package’s new funding will be gone. Local leaders also are concerned that one of the higher fees, a surcharge on commercial real estate in the region, would drive economic growth away from Northern Virginia.
“The regional packages are the heart of the new funding,” said Kaine, who has until March 26 to propose amendments to the Republican-backed bill. “Without support from the localities, the bill is nothing but a piece of paper.”
If Kaine and local officials push for too many changes, warned Sen. Jay O’Brien, R-Clifton, they could doom chances of increasing transportation funding for a long time. The November elections, when all 140 General Assembly seats will be on the ballot, gave legislators a reason to compromise that won’t exist again for four years.
“If the House does not agree to his amendments, the governor should sign the bill with whatever imperfections may be in it; he should still sign it,” O’Brien said. “If he vetoes the bill, there will be no transportation package for his entire administration. If this is his leading issue, then there needs to be compromise to get the job done.”
The looming elections have brought much attention to the fight over transportation. On Wednesday, for example, membersof George Mason University’s College Republicans demonstrated outside the Fairfax County Government Center, urging Kaine to sign the bill.
