County agrees to allow new VRE member

Spotsylvania seeks to join rail service Prince William, Manassas, Manassas Park would pay less

Prince William County officials have signed off on an agreement that would lower the county's subsidy to Virginia Railway Express and welcome a new jurisdiction to the commuter-rail system.

The plan, unanimously approved by the Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday, adds Spotsylvania County to the VRE master agreement, a move that would save Prince William more than $1 million over the next two years.

Now the agreement needs approval from the Northern Virginia and the Potomac and Rappahannock transportation commissions next month. All the VRE jurisdictions have approved the agreement, except for Arlington County, which was scheduled to vote on it this weekend.

"This is something we have been looking forward to for a long time," said Prince William Supervisor and VRE board member John D. Jenkins (D-Neabsco). "We're happy to have them join us, and we look forward to working with them to provide better rail service."

Prince William and the six other jurisdictions that use the commuter-rail service contribute a total of roughly $16.4 million to VRE's $79 million annual operating budget. Adding Spotsylvania to the mix would effectively lower the subsidy participating jurisdictions have to pay.

In fiscal 2010, Prince William allocated about $6.2 million from its gas tax funds to VRE. With Spotsylvania in the picture, that subsidy would drop to $5.6 million, according to county documents. Manassas's subsidy would drop $84,900 and Manassas Park's would drop by $52,300.

VRE officials said that Spotsylvania residents have been riding the trains for years but that their jurisdiction has never contributed to the service. Under the agreement, Spotsylvania would get to defer its payment to VRE for the first two years, then would probably contribute about $1.5 million annually, VRE officials said, noting that it would eventually pay back the deferred money.

Although Spotsylvania has said it will officially join VRE in February, the county has until mid-January to cancel the deal. Some VRE officials said the upcoming Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors elections could change the county's willingness to join VRE.

If the agreement stands, Spotsylvania officials would have to find funding to acquire property and build a platform and 1,000-space parking facility by February 2012.