By Eric M. Weiss
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 11, 2007; B01
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors voted yesterday to support a regional package of tax and fee increases that would raise more than $300 million a year for local transportation improvements.
With the vote, it now appears that the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority will have the votes needed to pass the revenue measures when it meets tomorrow. The Prince William vote was key, because the NVTA requires that any tax measure be approved by six of the nine Northern Virginia jurisdictions and by jurisdictions representing at least two-thirds of the region's population.
If Prince William had voted against the tax plan, the entire regional package would have crumbled because Loudoun County is opposing it and together the two growing suburbs total more than a third of the region's population.
The Prince William measure passed 7 to 1.
Now, the NVTA probably will raise taxes on home sales, rental cars, hotel rooms and auto repairs to pay for local road and transit projects ignored in the statewide transportation plan. The NVTA's taxing authority was the result of a last-minute, hard-won compromise between the Republican-led General Assembly and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), who signed the state's first transportation funding bill in 21 years.
The overall plan calls for about $500 million in statewide funding, with an additional $400 million available in Northern Virginia and an additional $200 million in Hampton Roads. Local governments in those two regions must agree to the plan before taxes and fees can be collected to spend on local projects. Under the law, the NVTA can raise as much as $300 million a year, with local governments eligible to raise $100 million.
"It's imperfect, but it's the only solution that we have available," said Supervisor Martin E. Nohe (R-Coles), Prince William's representative to the NVTA and the authority's vice chairman. "In Prince William, no matter what the conversation starts out about, it ends up being about transportation."
Supervisor Maureen S. Caddigan (R-Dumfries) added, "Nobody wants to raise taxes, but that's been dumped in our laps."
The board asked Nohe to ensure that any NVTA borrowing not be applied against the county's debt limit or affect its credit rating. The board approved a list of principles that Nohe should keep in mind when deciding on his vote. But the board stopped short of instructing Nohe to vote yes in order to give him additional leverage.
Representatives from Fairfax County, Fairfax City, Manassas, Arlington County, Alexandria and Falls Church are also expected to vote in favor of the package.
With its vote, the Prince William board separated from Loudoun. Each has a large constituency of anti-taxers, but each also has a large constituency demanding new roads and interchanges.
The Loudoun board voted last week to challenge the state transportation plan, arguing that the law that created it violates the state constitution by allowing an appointed panel of local officials, the NVTA, to levy taxes and impose fees on area residents. The supervisors said state officials escaped the politically hard choice of raising taxes by handing off that responsibility to a little-known body that cannot be held accountable at election time.
Loudoun board Chairman Scott K. York (I), the county's representative on the NVTA board, is expected to vote against the new taxes. York did not return several phone calls this week.
This week, Prince William board Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R-At large) said he preferred to postpone a decision on the NVTA until the fall, after summer vacation season, when the public presumably would be more focused. He also wanted to see more details on what projects would be funded.
But yesterday, Stewart said state law forced the board to act.
"We have to deal with the hand we're dealt," Stewart said.
Earlier in the day, Chris Zimmerman, the Arlington Democrat who chairs the NVTA, said delaying a vote on the new taxes would not accomplish anything but delay.
"What would be different in the fall?" asked Zimmerman, a member of the Arlington County Board. "I'm not hearing from anybody that we should study transportation more."
"Delay is the enemy," said Gerald E. Connolly, the NVTA representative from Fairfax County, the largest regional jurisdiction by far. Connolly (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, said he plans to vote for the tax package because "all I hear from my constituents is that we need to do something besides dither and debate."
If the revenue measure passes, the first thing the NVTA plans to do is address legal issues surrounding its constitutionality.
Zimmerman said the NVTA will file a request in Circuit Court for a ruling on the legality of the law that created it. After the request is filed, Loudoun and other jurisdictions have 10 days to object.
If the package passes, the authority will also work on a six-year spending plan for transportation projects.
Last month, the NVTA provided an initial list of 22 "ready-to-go" projects that would be the first funded by the new taxes. The list includes a Fairfax County Parkway interchange, the widening of the Prince William Parkway and a bus-rapid-transit line through Arlington and Alexandria.
The projects were chosen because design and right-of-way acquisition are complete or nearly so. Many of the projects on the list have been on the drawing board for years but have not been included in the state's transportation funding plan, which has been reduced as more money has been needed for maintenance.
Nohe said he has heard from constituents who are against higher taxes and fees. But he said the situation demands tough decisions.
"You have to respond to practical realities," Nohe said. "People are screaming for solutions."
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