|
Sen. Charles Colgan (D-Prince William, left) |
RICHMOND--
The Fredericksburg region could pay an additional 1 percent sales tax for roads under an amendment put on two transportation revenue bills yesterday.Sen. Edd Houck, D-Spotsylvania, wrote the amendment--which will help Fredericksburg and Richmond areas--because he said those areas are being bypassed by a focus on transportation needs in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.
"They're not part of either region, yet these are the two fastest-growing areas in the entire state," Houck said. "I want our region to have a regional plan This takes a step toward having a regional component for Fredericksburg."
Lawmakers were in the second day of a special session on transportation, with much of the discussion involving ways to get more money for roads in those congested two regions.
The Fredericksburg area is outside the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority area.
Houck's plan says that any metropolitan planning area where there are more than 8.5 million vehicle lane miles traveled in a year will automatically be subject to the 1 percent sales tax increase. In effect, that means Fredericksburg and Richmond.
The Fredericksburg region has already passed that threshold, Houck said.
If passed, the sales tax increase would go into effect a year from now. Houck said the money would stay in the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization for use on local projects, although for bookkeeping purposes it would go to a special fund administered by the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
Houck attached his amendment to two Senate bills that include a variety of tax increases to provide money for statewide maintenance needs, as well as additional increases in Northern Virginia and Tidewater.
One bill, from Sen. Dick Saslaw, D-Fairfax, increases the gas tax 6 cents over the next six years, plus another half-percent on the auto titling tax, and includes other provisions for Northern Virginia and Tidewater.
The other, from Sen. Chuck Colgan, D-Prince William, increases the vehicle titling tax by three-fourths of a percent, and indexes the gas tax to compete with inflation. It also eliminates the remaining half-cent tax on food.
Those two bills will be recommended to the full Senate Finance Committee this morning; a subcommittee heard them yesterday. The committee is likely to pass them on to the full Senate for a vote.
Getting revenue bills through a subcommittee hearing was the extent of the Senate's progress yesterday. A Senate committee postponed indefinitely action on a bill that would have taken royalties from offshore oil drilling, should the federal moratorium on such drilling be lifted, for transportation.
Meanwhile, the House of Delegates acted on a number of bills, but not on Gov. Tim Kaine's transportation plan. Kaine's bill has been referred not to the House Finance Committee, as expected, but to the House Rules committee, which is run by House Speaker Bill Howell, R-Stafford.
A change in the House procedural rules during the regular session earlier this year allowed Howell to send any bill he likes through the Rules committee, no matter what subject or issue it deals with.
The Rules Committee is scheduled to meet tomorrow afternoon.
The House Transportation Committee approved legislation to conduct an independent audit of VDOT, something many Republicans have recently said should happen before tax increases are considered.
The bill was then referred to the House Appropriations Committee, a common move for anything that costs money.
Kaine on Monday called the audit a "ridiculous" excuse to put off taking responsibility for transportation problems.
One of the sponsors, Del. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William, said the bill isn't intended to punish VDOT, only to identify areas where cost savings and efficiencies might be possible. He acknowledged that there have been a number of reviews of VDOT in recent years, but said an outside audit could still be beneficial.
Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer said his agency has no fear of an audit.
"We think any oversight is good," Homer said. "We think we'll stack up well, we think we'll find things we can improve on."
The House Finance Committee rejected a bill from Del. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William, to eliminate the 17.5-cent per-gallon tax on gas, and replace it with a 5 percent sales tax on gas.
Chelyen Davis: 804/782-9362
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com
