Local official: Va. needs to fix roads

By Uriah A. Kiser

Published: May 14, 2008

On hand was State Sen. Richard Stuart, R - 28th District, who told members of the county’s board of supervisors that he wanted to do all he could to help Stafford County find transportation solutions.

The senator said that even after the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, which Stafford County does not hold a seat on, lost its ability to levy tax new taxes to be used for transportation improvements, traffic remains an issue for people living in the county.

Supervisors told the senator they need more revenue and local resources to be provided from the state, so they can distribute them where needed. Cord Sterling, R-Rock Hill, said that the $3.5 million Stafford receives from the state for transportation funding barely scratches the surface of what the county needs to maintain, improve and construct new roads. In addition to raising Stafford’s gas tax to pay for roads, much of the discussion dealt with developer’s impact fees.

The fees, which are paid by developers, go to improve roads, schools and public buildings near newly developed areas.

Sterling told the Senator that the county should keep it’s right to set the rate of impact fees imposed on developers, despite new legislation in Richmond that would force the county to issue a blanket rate for all developers.

“I support impact fee bills that would allow Stafford to determine what those fees should be instead of putting an arbitrary cap on them” said Stuart.
Currently Stafford imposes impact fees ranging from $21 - $42,000 per home, which must be paid by developers, according to Paul Milde, R - Aquia.

The supervisors acknowledged the county is currently experiencing the same growth it’s northern neighbor Prince William County saw 15 years ago.
Because the county’s road system is too small and unable to handle the growth, Supervisor Joe Brito, I-Hartwood, said it would be best to stop all growth entirely until the region is more economically stable.

“We’re on the verge of needing another high school, with two other middle school’s reaching capacity… We should hold off on development until we can open up the floodgates fully,“ said Brito.

Stuart said that an immediate source of road funding is the real estate tax. The senator conceded that citizens do not want to see their real estate taxes raised.
Gov. Timothy Kaine announced Monday a plan to raise taxes throughout the state to pay for transportation improvements, though the funds aren’t coming from real estate taxes.

The governor proposed a 3-4 percent raise the titling tax paid on the purchase of a new vehicle. The plan also calls for raising the car registration fee by $10.
According to the governor’s Web site, the plan would raise more than $1 billion annually by 2012, and would not require any raise in the statewide gas tax.

According to Milde, the county can solve its transportation problems if they had the right amount of help from the state.