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Our View
Don’t mess with
the general fund
Heading out west from points north brings you
to the blissful, rolling hills of Rappahannock
County where gridlock isn’t a problem. But for our neighbors in Northern Virginia, and that seems to include Fauquier County now, traffic woes are plentiful.
The good news about the General Assembly’s passage of a Republican-powered transportation bill Saturday is that the plan represents the first major infusion of new funds for road and rail projects in Virginia since 1986. That’s a whopping 21 years.
The bill, HB3202, provides hope — something seriously lacking for Northern Virginia drivers engulfed in daily gridlock. State senators passed the transportation plan 21-18, and the bill sailed through the House 64-34.
Now, here’s the bad news. And there’s plenty of it.
HB 3202 calls for the state to use $2.5 billion in bonds over the next eight years to be paid back with monies normally reserved for general fund purposes, such as schools, public safety and health.
We should not mess with general fund revenues. There are other ways to generate monies for road improvements - a statewide gasoline tax and a statewide increase in vehicle registration fees.
Virginia’s state gas tax is 17.5 cents a gallon, 16 cents for diesel. Maryland is at 23.5 cents a gallon, and North Carolina’s gas tax is 30.2 cents a gallon.
95.3%