Area transit proposal headed for House vote

The House of Delegates is expected to approve a bill today that would allow Charlottesville and Albemarle County to form a regional transit authority.

The proposed authority would oversee a long-planned expansion and improvement of the Charlottesville area’s bus system. If the bill, HB 2158, wins final House passage today, it will head to the Senate, where it also faces good odds.

Yet the bill’s impending legislative victory might all be for naught.

Local officials are increasingly questioning the wisdom of establishing the new transit authority if no new revenue is available to pay for its operation and much-needed transit and transportation projects.

A House of Delegates subcommittee killed a bill last week that would have let the city and county hold a voter referendum to raise the local sales tax rate by up to one cent, a move that would have generated as much as $21.1 million in fiscal 2011. The proposed transit authority would have relied on the new sales tax revenue to pay for roads projects and increase the quality and efficiency of the bus system.

Charlottesville Mayor Dave Norris said Wednesday that establishing the transit authority would carry costs, including the hiring of an executive director and other staffers. Without new revenue, Norris said, any available money might be better spent directly on improving the efficiency of the existing bus system.

“We’re going to need to have a frank conversation about whether it still makes sense to pursue an authority if there is no new revenue to support it,” Norris said. “It may make sense to put the money back into the system, rather than paying for new bureaucracy and overhead.”

Albemarle County Board of Supervisors Chairman David L. Slutzky has suggested the transit authority may now have no choice but to be funded “on the back of the property tax.”

Del. David J. Toscano, D-Charlottes-ville, introduced the transit authority legislation at the request of the city and county. He did not return a request for comment by press time Wednesday.

Del. Rob Bell, R-Albemarle County, ame-nded Toscano’s bill on Wednesday to ensure that only elected officials would be voting members of the transit authority.

“I opposed any authority that could raise taxes,” Bell said. “I also thought it was important that the authority be run by publicly accountable elected officials, rather than unelected appointees. The amendments today will do that.”

The bill allows the counties of Greene, Fluvanna, Louisa and Nelson to join the transit authority. And it also allows other local agencies — such as higher education institutions, nonprofit tourist-driven organizations and public transportation entities — to join as non-voting members.

According to the bill, Charlottesville and Albemarle County each would have two representatives on the transit authority. Other localities would each have one seat. And up to four other agencies could also have a seat.