As C-VILLE went to press on Monday, state legislators were setting to work in Richmond on Governor Tim Kaine’s transportation bill. And boy, do they have their work cut out for them. Not only do they have to read Kaine’s 55-page reworking of last year’s mirage of a transportation funding solution—they also have to find some way to agree about how to fund it, with House Republicans repeating a “No new taxes” mantra and the Democratic Senate majority leader offering a competing proposal.
If you’re experiencing déjà vu, it’s because last year, the General Assembly passed a transportation plan that was supposed to provide $1.5 billion annually. Instead, it was shattered, partly by the abusive driver fee backlash and mostly by a state Supreme Court ruling that nixed the transportation authorities set up for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
 Charlottesville’s State Delegate David Toscano didn’t hear any opposition to raising taxes for roads at a June 15 "Transportation Town Hall" at a county office building. |
In the event that Kaine’s latest bill goes through unscathed (which is about as likely as UVA winning this year’s NCAA football championship), we the people of Virginia would have the pleasure of paying: 1 percent more when we buy a car; $10 more for annually registering our cars; and, when we sell our homes, a 250 percent higher “grantor’s tax,” which would go from 10 to 35 cents per $100 of assessed value. Most of the $1 billion generated annually would go to highway maintenance, but the revenue from the grantor’s tax increase—about $150 million annually—would go toward mass transit.
Not included in all those proposed tax hikes: the gas tax, the tax that is actually supposed to pay for transportation. At 17.5 cents per gallon, it hasn’t been raised since 1986, and is the 11th lowest among states. Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw (D-Fairfax) has his own proposal, which would increase the gas tax by 5 or 6 cents, according to The Washington Post. Given current prices, 5 cents is a measly 1.25 percent of a $4 gallon of gas.
Folks in Charlottesville and Albemarle have plenty of reason to pay attention to the legislative squabbling that will unfold this week. The Virginia Department of Transportation just cut funding to numerous local projects, including Hillsdale Drive Extended, Old Ivy Road widening, new lanes for Proffit Road and several railroad bridge repairs. Overall, road funding is being cut 44 percent, leaving Albemarle with only $3 million for secondary road funding in this coming fiscal year.
State Delegate David Toscano (D-Charlottesville) hosted a “Transportation Town Hall” meeting June 16 and speakers had disparate ideas: Stratton Salidis suggested turning the Meadowcreek Parkway into a bicycles-only road. Don Wells warned that peak oil will nullify all these conversations, predicting empty roads after gas prices steadily rise a buck per year. Old Lynchburg Road resident Jeanne Chase wanted to know where the Sunset-Fontaine connector road was, and Randy Salzman suggested a bike/pedestrian bridge over the Rivanna River to connect the new Martha Jefferson Hospital to E. Market Street. Some, like rail-advocate Meredith Richards, wanted more money for mass transit, while others, like county Supervisor Dennis Rooker, wanted the state to fulfill its obligation to fund road maintenance and construction.
So what was the takeaway message for Toscano?
“In terms of what I learned, I think I’ve heard a number of these perspectives before at other times and other places,” says Toscano. “I think you could summarize them along the lines of, ‘We can’t pave our way out of our problems, but it does take some money to address some of our transportation woes.’”
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