Hampton Mayor Pushes for Voter Referendum on Roads Authority

By Tom Holden, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Mar. 28–Hampton Mayor Ross A. Kearney II wants his voters to decide in a fall referendum whether the city should join the proposed Hampton Roads Transportation Authority.

Kearney, who will ask his City Council for the referendum, doesn’t support the General Assembly’s proposal to establish a regional authority.

“They are asking local governments to do a job that is mandated by the Virginia Constitution,” Kearney said Tuesday. “The governor and the General Assembly are supposed to do transportation.”

If the legislature next week approves a state transportation plan that includes the regional authority, Kearney and other local elected leaders will be debating in the coming months whether to form the regional taxing body.

At least seven of 12 communities in the region must vote to join before the authority can implement a series of tax and fee increases intended for regional transportation projects. Leaders in Virginia Beach, Newport News, Williamsburg, James City County and Norfolk have indicated they will support the plan. Other localities are studying it.

On Monday, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced a series of amendments to the transportation bill after weeks of negotiations. Leaders in the assembly have indicated initial support for Kaine’s proposed changes. The full assembly will vote on the revised bill on April 4.

The money raised — between $177.5 million and $211 million annually, depending on which fees are imposed — would be spent on six major projects the region has sought.

Chesapeake’s Mayor Dalton Edge said he was opposed to raising taxes and fees even though his city would benefit from the projects, which include a wider Interstate 64 and a new high-rise bridge.

“I don’t want to embarrass anyone, and I want to work with the region and with the state, but I’m not approving any taxes,” Edge said. “I don’t see it passing here.”

— Reach Tom Holden at (757) 446-2331 or tom.holden@pilotonline.com.

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Copyright (c) 2007, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News.

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