The Richmond region is speaking with one voice for the first time to the Virginia General Assembly -- at least for now.
The Richmond Regional Planning District Commission unveiled its legislative agenda yesterday, covering five broad concerns of local government approved by the 33-member board of directors.
"It's a first," said Richmond City Council President Kathy C. Graziano, who is chairwoman of the regional board.
The concerns range from public safety and transportation to growth management, environmental regulation and local tax authority and autonomy.
However, the commission didn't take a position on the most contentious issue in the two-year state budget proposed last month by outgoing Gov. Timothy M. Kaine -- the replacement of state reimbursement to localities for lost car-tax revenue with money from a 1 percent increase in the personal income tax.
Charles E. Gates Jr., the regional panel's spokesman and lobbyist, said Kaine made the proposal after the board unanimously adopted its legislative agenda last month.
"At that point, there were rumors of Governor Kaine doing this, but it wasn't certain," Gates said at yesterday's presentation at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. "It is something we will definitely take back to consider."
One board member, Goochland County Supervisor Malvern R. "Rudy" Butler, said the governor's idea is worth a close look by local governments.
"That's something we need to know how it's going to impact all of our localities," Butler said. "That might be something that's a good thing."
The proposed elimination of the local personal-property tax -- usually called the car tax -- was a potent political issue in the 1997 gubernatorial election of Jim Gilmore, who persuaded the General Assembly in 1998 to eliminate 70 percent of the cost to local taxpayers by requiring the state to reimburse localities for that portion of the levy. The promise to eliminate the tax entirely never was completed. Instead, the state pays local governments $950 million a year in reimbursements..
Kaine's proposal to complete elimination of the tax and replace the payments to localities with the income-tax increase is opposed by Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell, who thus would have to find an additional $1.9 billion in budget cuts over two years to restore the state car-tax reimbursements.
Local officials say they're already reeling from proposed cuts in state aid to localities, including a proposal to slash more than $40 million over two years in funding for cities and counties with police departments and reductions in money for sheriff's departments to hire deputies and house state inmates.
Protecting public safety from deep cuts was one of the priorities outlined yesterday by the commission, which also asked legislators to seek:
•delaying implementation of state storm-water regulations; •giving counties additional taxing authority, similar to that of cities; and •giving the Richmond area a new, at-large seat on the Commonwealth Transportation Board. "I think we're under-represented in this region," said Henrico County Supervisor James B. Donati Jr.
Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or mmartz@timesdispatch.com.
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