In the decade-long debate on funding transportation improvements, many simple solutions have been offered. Endless demands for auditing the Department of Transportation resulted in about a dozen audits, none of which alleged waste, fraud, or abuse. No new funds were identified. One audit suggested that reserves on projects could be reduced, freeing up money to be spent quicker. Hopefully the added risk will not leave the department unable to pay its bills. Another frequent suggestion has been the expanded use of public-private partnerships whose popularity seems to have diminished with the realization that the projects are not free but are funded with high tolls like the Greenway.
The simplest solution proposed by many especially in election years is revising the highway funding formula to bring more money to one’s region. “Change the formula; get our fair share back to Northern Virginia,” is the promise. Accomplish the task by putting together a coalition of “legislators from the parts of Virginia that have the greatest transportation needs and gather the votes to change the formula.” The results of a recent study seem to throw cold water on this idea. While we contend that we do not get our fair share in Northern Virginia, the results of a study by the Senate Finance Committee staff found that Northern Virginia actually gets back more in transportation funding than it pays in transportation taxes. Certainly we do not get back as much as we want or need, but the study found that the Northern Virginia region with 27.9 percent of the state’s population pays 27.7 percent of the state’s transportation taxes but gets back 32.5 percent of the state’s expenditures for transportation. In contrast, the Richmond region pays 15.9 percent of the state’s transportation taxes and gets back 11.2 percent. Hampton Roads is about even with 20.2 percent of the taxes and 20.1 percent of the expenditures. The small district of Bristol is the only other region of the nine regions in the state to get back more than it put in. Now who is going to join the coalition to send even more money to Northern Virginia? Seems that another simple solution has bitten the dust.
I voted with others for Governor McDonnell’s borrowing scheme to put more money into transportation. For support for his proposal from business organizations and legislators, Governor McDonnell pledged to propose a sustainable and dedicated source of revenue for transportation. I look forward to his proposal as being a serious one and not another ABC sales idea. I will support it if it produces real revenue and if, of course, we in Northern Virginia get our fair share.
Ken Plum is a member of the Virginia House of Delegates.
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