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Spotsy would reap more than it paid for VRE

April 14, 2009 12:35 am

SINCE February, The Free Lance-Star has published eight letters to the editor and one op-ed with false and easily disproved claims about the Virginia Railway Express. As Spotsylvania County considers joining this commuter rail service, residents deserve the benefit of the facts, not a campaign of misinformation.

Although there are many arguments in favor of VRE, from the benefits of economic development to decreased auto emissions, those opposed have rallied behind two central issues that do not exist. The first misconception--which no evidence supports and has been repeated in every anti-VRE letter and opinion published this year--is that gas is less expensive in Spotsylvania than in Stafford County or Fredericksburg, where a 2 percent VRE tax is included in the price of gas.

The facts don't lie. When comparing apples to apples or, as an example, a Spotsylvania Wawa on a particular date and time with a Stafford or Fredericksburg Wawa at the same time, the record clearly shows that you pay exactly the same at the Spotsylvania Wawa as at a Fredericksburg Wawa, and more than you pay at a Stafford Wawa. This is not an opinion; it is recorded data readily available online.

The other repeatedly published whopper is the baseless accusation that this market-absorbed gas tax is collected to benefit just a few commuters. The evidence strongly proves otherwise.

In both Fredericksburg and Stafford, by far the majority of the revenue generated by the 2 percent tax is kept to benefit every resident, and not spent in any way on VRE. Repeated claims to the contrary cannot change this fact. Since 2001, VRE has received less than 12 percent of the 2 percent tax collected in Fredericksburg. Financial transactions prove Stafford has kept more than two-thirds of these revenues, while VRE received less than the remaining third. It is factually incorrect to claim the small VRE tax benefits only a few commuters.

Check the record for yourselves online or at VREYES .com. You can download two months' worth of regional gas prices and related data provided by Stafford, Fredericksburg, and GasBuddy .com. GasBuddy.com is the organization that provides the gas price data used by Google and well-known newspapers throughout North America, including The Free Lance-Star.

If Spotsylvania residents are forced to pay the same price for gas as is paid in Fredericksburg and Stafford, they deserve a share of the millions of dollars VRE membership generates each year. VRE has been an enormous revenue-generator for both Stafford and Fredericksburg. The public record is included in the VREYES .com gas price report:

"In just the eight years since 2001, and after paying for all their VRE membership costs, Fredericksburg and Stafford have cleared and collected nearly $25 million for local transportation needs."

Net gain

Even after paying increased membership costs last year, Stafford netted more than $2 million. Spotsylvanians paid the same price for gas and received nothing. Stafford and Fredericksburg have used millions of dollars in VRE revenue to build, pave, and improve roads, as well as to help pay for a parking deck, the FRED bus service, and other transportation priorities. Spotsylvania borrows money for these same needs.

What makes VRE membership so profitable for Fredericksburg and Stafford is that more of the revenue they collect comes from people who don't even live here. Interstate 95 is one of the busiest highways in the Western Hemisphere. The Fredericksburg Regional Alliance points out that two-thirds of the U.S. population lives within one day's drive of our region. Random travelers on I-95 fund most of VRE, not the local residents.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, since 2001 the average price for a gallon of regular gas on the East Coast has been $2.09. The VRE membership portion of that gallon (2 percent) equals 4 cents.

According to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, Stafford and Fredericksburg have averaged almost 93,000 licensed drivers a year over these same eight years. If every one of those drivers owned a car and purchased 554 gallons of gas a year--the current number of gallons used by the average U.S. vehicle, according to the EIA--residents of these two localities could theoretically have purchased 51.5 million gallons a year during this time period.

At 4 cents collected from each of those $2.09 gallons of gas, the combined purchasing power of every licensed driver in Stafford and Fredericksburg would generate close to $16.5 million, just less than half the amount these two localities collected in reality.

These recorded facts disprove the anti-VRE misinformation repeatedly published in The Free Lance-Star. The truth is that the market-absorbed 2 percent gas tax is for everyone's transportation needs; commuters and VRE receive the smallest portion of this revenue and we all pay the same at the pump whether we collect it or not.

Spotsylvania County has urgent transportation needs and few and dwindling dollars to address these needs. Common sense dictates that VRE membership is a logical solution just waiting to be implemented.

Gary Skinner represents the Lee Hill District on the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors.