Virginia Governor Candidate Wants Transportation Decisions Made Locally

Part of gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli’s plan would allow localities to raise “additional funds if needed on their own.”

October 23, 2013

RICHMOND, Va. – This week, the Republican candidate for Virginia’s governorship unveiled his plan for the Old Dominion’s transportation system, the Washington Post reports. Current Va. Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II’s plan would place many of the decisions surrounding transportation into the hands of local county and city officials. The Democrat candidate, Terry McAuliffe, says his plan would continue to centralize transportation decisions with the state.

Cuccinelli would reduce the role of the Virginia Department of Transportation in scheduling projects, instead letting localities figure out which projects should take precedence. The funding levels per area would stay the same, but the state would have much less say in how that money was spent. Counties would also take on full responsibility for secondary roads currently seen after by the state.

“Devolution [passing along responsibility to local governments] for secondary roads may have some merit,” said Bob Chase, president of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance. “If there’s not a lot of secondary-road money available, there’s not a lot of incentive for local buy-in. Devolving secondary-road decision-making doesn’t guarantee money will be well spent. All politics are local. The fact that some local residents are pleased with some projects that help them does not mean money is well spent.”

Meanwhile, the Virginia Petroleum, Convenience and Grocery Association commented that Cuccinelli’s transportation plan would apparently open the door to allow counties to impose separate gas taxes. The candidate proposed letting municipalities to raise “additional funds if needed on their own.”

“This raises the possibility of a patchwork quilt of fuels taxes across the Commonwealth (beyond those currently imposed in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads,) serious questions as to how individual counties would administer and collect fuels taxes, and increases the possibility of tax evasion which is virtually non-existent under the present system administered by DMV,” the association wrote in a news brief.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement