As the Port of Virginia grows, warehouses crop up around the region and Hampton Roads tourism reaches record highs, one Norfolk lawmaker wants to get a new funding stream working to upgrade the secondary highways that make all of that possible.
A bill from Del. Jackie Glass (D-Norfolk) would create a dedicated fund and add 0.3% onto the sales and use tax in Hampton Roads to improve roads and make driving infrastructure more resilient to a changing climate.
It builds on a model that has funded the region’s biggest highway projects over the last decade.
In 2013, the General Assembly created a dedicated transportation fund for major Hampton Roads transportation projects. It was financed by a 2.1% fuel tax and 0.7% sales and use tax paid throughout the region.
That pool of money has bankrolled the ongoing Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion, the expansion of I-64 in Newport News and the replacement of Chesapeake’s High Rise Bridge.
If the new proposal is passed, officials estimate it would create an additional $81.7 million in its first year, and more than $90 million annually after that.
That would come out to roughly $59 annually per taxpayer, according to estimates from Glass’ office. Glass couldn’t be reached for comment on the bill.
The new tax revenue would be divided into two pots. A third would go into a dedicated coastal resilience fund, with the rest put toward improving secondary highways in the region.
The idea has the backing of one of the region’s biggest business groups, the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce.
“How many times does the Chamber say, ‘hey, we support a tax increase?’ Rarely, if ever,” said Gretchen Heal, the Chamber’s vice president of government affairs.
Heal said many of these projects will benefit large-scale economic activity and development like those tied to the region’s port facilities, as well as smaller businesses that can save time and money by not having workers or deliveries sitting in so much traffic.
The bill can also help with one of the region’s biggest business boogeymen: the loss of young workers, Heal said.
“One of the things that we've noticed when we're surveying young people and trying to do talent retention in the area (is that) quality of life and flow of traffic are things that are important to them,” she said. “So it impacts the business community in a variety of ways.”
Business leaders have been sounding the alarm recently over the brain drain affecting the region as young workers — particularly recent college graduates — flee the region for places where they can earn more or spend less to live.
Heal noted that the nature of a sales tax also means it’s not just locals paying it.
“When tourists come to our area, they're contributing to that as well, which is fair, because they use the roads.”
The one-third of the revenue dedicated to coastal resilience would help, for instance, raise roads when they’re getting redone to help keep traffic moving when it floods. Heal said that will help tackle more of the region’s big economic anxieties.
“When we're dealing with coastal resiliency, we're also dealing with the retention of military bases and military support businesses. The (Norfolk) Naval Base there, one of the concerns is always going to be coastal resiliency for them,” Heal said.
The Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization also supports the idea of the fund, though there was some dissent among regional leaders about explicitly backing Glass’ legislation and it’s tax increase.
“It’s essential that we have those good roads, but by the same token, raising taxes during this time, there can be other options,” Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer said at a recent meeting of the transportation board.
He said state budget surpluses should be the “first line of attack” in getting money for these projects. Roads are critical for the region, including for keeping military bases, but “so is quality of life,” Dyer said.
