The House of Delegates gave its near unanimous approval Thursday to a bill that would allow Charlottesville and Albemarle County to form a regional transit authority.
Del. David J. Toscano’s bill, HB 2158, was approved 94-4. It will head to the Senate on Tuesday and is expected to win passage easily.
Toscano, a Democrat from Charlottesville, introduced the legislation at the request of Charlottesville and Albemarle. The localities want to create the joint transit authority to oversee an improvement and expansion of the local bus system.
A separate bill was killed last week that would have allowed Charlottesville and Albemarle to hold a referendum to increase the local sales tax rate by up to a penny.
Under the localities’ plans, the transit authority would have relied on the new sales tax revenue to pay for local transit and transportation projects that are languishing because of a lack of money.
Some local officials have said they wonder if the transit authority is still a good idea. Others have suggested that existing funds could be redirected to the authority, or new revenue could be generated via the property tax.
Toscano said the decision on whether to move forward will be in the hands of the localities.
“It’s a local decision,” he said. “The governing bodies will have to figure out if they still think it’s valuable, even without the new revenue.”
If the localities choose to move forward with the transit authority, other local agencies and other counties — Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa and Nelson — would be allowed to join as well.
No House members from the Charlottesville area voted against the bill.
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