Local leaders are taking a stand against a plan to hand over to Metro money for allocated for traffic and transit projects in the region to ease congestion and add capacity.
Northern Virginia Transportation Authority Chairman Marty Nohe on Tuesday said Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s budget would see some $50 million in new taxes to be raised, funds that would be given to NVTA — the Northern Virginia taxing authority that identifies which traffic and transit projects are in need of funding and then awards the funds.
But then, the governor would take $150 million each year and give 30% of it to Metro and 5% to Virginia Railway Express. That’s 40% of the NVTA’s total annual operating budget.
The NVTA tells us the governor never consulted with anyone at the organization prior to recommending this change. Nohe says, under state law, the NVTA can only fund projects that are thoroughly reviewed and ranked in a priority of new projects that would reduce congestion and add capacity.
“There are a number of legal questions and questions about the ability the NVTA to continue to operate to continue to operate our core mission funding regional projects and questions about the creditworthiness of the NVTA, whether we can maintain our very high bond rating for the region in order to construct projects,” said Nohe.
The resolution, which the Prince William County Board passed unanimously, urged elected to keep funding Metro and other transit agencies to keep them in a “state of good repair,” while opposing any shifting of the state’s responsibility to fund Metro to localities or regional funding entities like NVTA.
On top of all this Prince William County and Manassas are considered ‘non-Metro jurisdictions,” as they don’t pay into the WMATA compact like other counties that have Metro stations in them, like Fairfax and Loudoun. So, the thought of “non-Metro” counties losing NVTA funds that could go to road and transit improvements didn’t sit well.
Nohe said the change would be detrimental to the county, and that it is not the way forward to help Metro out of its funding crisis. It’s important to note the subway system is the only in the nation without a dedicated source of funding.
Manassas leaders were the first to approve such a resolution to keep NVTA monies in house to be used for projects that have been scored by the Authority, which could include Metro projects.
At Monday night’s Manassas City Council meeting, Mayor Harry J. “Hal” Parrish presented the city’s resolution to oppose taking money off-the-top of NVTA’s budget. It also passed unanimously.
“It is not the normal process we would take to take up matters such as this but this is a signifigant matter,” said Parrish. “But, only recently have we learned of the governor’s proposed legislation…and the legislature will begin its work next week.”
The move to fund Metro comes as the system has fallen into disrepair since over the years since its opening in 1976. A series of track work “surge” over the past year has aimed to restore the once envied subway system to better working order.
“In a period over the last decade or so, there has been of a number of important investments for maintaining and improving Metro that simply weren’t made And it’s caught up with them. They now have literally billions of dollars worth of unfunded maintenance fees. And the Commonwealth of Virginia, the state of Maryland, the District of Columbia and the federal government are under tremendous pressure to start playing catch up with all of those maintenance issues,” said Nohe. “I applaud the fact that they’re trying to fix Metro.”
Nohe said he expected Manassas Park Mayor Jeanette Rishell, who also sits on the NVTA Board, to introduce a similar resolution at that city’s Governing Body meeting.
