RESOLUTION TO REQUEST ENABLING LEGISLATION
FOR THE COUNTY OF ALBEMARLE AND THE CITY OF CHARLOTTESVILLE
TO FUND TRANSIT AND TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS
WHEREAS, transportation planning and systems are regional in scope; and
WHEREAS, transportation planning in the Charlottesville-Albemarle area includes both transportation projects and the operation of a transit system; and
WHEREAS, the County of Albemarle and the City of Charlottesville desire to extend transit services to developing areas and to provide faster, more frequent service to the existing system, and to improve transportation in the Charlottesville-Albemarle area; and
WHEREAS, the County of Albemarle and the City of Charlottesville are seeking enabling legislation to establish a Regional Transit Authority to coordinate regional transit planning and operations; and
WHEREAS, additional funding is necessary to fund the expanded services of a Regional Transit Authority; and
WHEREAS, there is a dire need for transportation funding for identified and necessary transportation projects that are currently unfunded or underfunded by the Virginia Department of Transportation; and
WHEREAS, the County of Albemarle and the City of Charlottesville are seeking a funding source to fund necessary transportation improvement projects that cannot otherwise be reasonably or timely funded; and
WHEREAS, a local sales and use tax of up to one percent designated to be spent solely for the purposes of transit and transportation initiatives would provide a reasonable local source of funding for such initiatives; and
WHEREAS, the imposition of the proposed local sales and use tax of up to one percent would be subject to approval by local referendum and the use of such funding would be limited to transit costs, including funding for each locality’s share of the cost of a Regional Transit Authority, and transportation projects selected from the region’s Constrained Long Range Plan, the City’s Urban Road Program, or the County’s Secondary Road Program; and
WHEREAS, enabling legislation is necessary to enable a local sales and use tax to fund transit and transportation needs in the County of Albemarle and City of Charlottesville.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors hereby requests that the Virginia General Assembly enact legislation to enable the County of Albemarle and the City of Charlottesville to levy a local sales and use tax of up to one percent to fund to fund transit and transportation projects in the County of Albemarle and the City of Charlottesville.