Officials Seek to Halt Plan For Roads

Zimmerman said these issues were hashed out during legislative debate.

The attorney general's office has ruled the law constitutional. In a letter to Marshall, Virginia Chief Deputy Attorney General William C. Mims wrote that although "the taxes and fees imposed by House Bill 3202 are local taxes and fees (at least for accounting purposes)," the constitution "does not prohibit the General Assembly from creating a multi-jurisdictional special tax district."

Mims added that "in addressing critical transportation needs, the General Assembly has been innovative, but that does not make its action unconstitutional."

Nonetheless, Marshall said, the deal giving the authority the power to tax was a political cop-out by fellow legislators who didn't want to vote for higher taxes and were worried that local elected leaders wouldn't raise local taxes.

"This whole thing was billed not as a transportation fix, but a way to get past this election without people criticizing them for sitting in traffic," Marshall said.

All 140 seats in the legislature are up for election in November.

The statute setting up the authority tried to balance the rights of small and large localities by requiring two-thirds of members and members who represent two-thirds of the region's population to approve tax increases and other matters.

But, Staton said, allowing officials in one jurisdiction to vote on taxes in another amounts to "taxation without representation."

"If this is allowed to stand, who is to say the legislature won't give more power to the NVTA and allow it to circumvent local authority or allow it to use eminent domain to get these projects done," Staton said. "It's a slippery slope, and it needs to be challenged."