Virginia House Speaker William Howell, R-Stafford, issued a statement late Monday saying he and fellow GOP delegates want to use at least half of Virginia’s budget surplus for transportation, equaling about $225 million to $275 million.
The declaration may signal a different tone for the 2007 General Assembly session, after a 2006 session in which leading Republicans in the House of Delegates steadfastly refused to take money from the commonwealth’s general fund to increase transportation spending.
“House Republicans will insist upon and will only support a package of budget amendments dedicating not less than 50 percent of the latest surplus to transportation funding,” he said.
Republicans, stung by electoral setbacks in Northern Virginia the past two years, say they can support using general fund dollars this year because they are tapping surplus money not needed to fund core services such as education and health care.
Howell said he would be open to spending more on transportation than half of the surplus, but did not indicate whether he would support any increases in taxes or fees to generate the revenue.
“For transportation to be our top priority, we have to dedicate the largest percentage of available revenues to that purpose,” he said.
Even if the entire surplus goes to transportation projects, Northern Virginia lawmakers with traffic-weary constituents will not be satisfied.
“If you divide that up throughout the state, it does not work out to much money for Northern Virginia,” said Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites-Davis, R-Vienna.
Devolites-Davis and other Northern Virginia lawmakers favor proposals that would increase taxes or fees in the region and earmark that revenue strictly for transportation improvements in the area.
“We need sustainable revenue that stays in the region,” she said.
