This past Wednesday, PWAR continued that discussion with Marty Nohe, Chairman of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority and member of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors. Chairman Nohe shared with us that there are two separate proposals to provide funding to METRO but fortunately at this point Prince William County and the Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park will not see regional tax increases to do so. METRO is vital to our region and must be addressed but we are very pleased to see the state is working towards decreasing its reliance on the real estate industry.
On Wednesday, we had not seen the House proposal for METRO but on Thursday, their proposal, patroned by Delegate Tim Hugo, was unveiled. While the Senate proposal would increase regional taxes such as the transient occupancy tax and the grantors’ tax, the House proposal relies on redirecting existing state and regional funding. Again, it is good news that the House proposal will not rely on higher taxes in our region, but it does rely on regional transportation funding which is currently utilized for our local road projects. It is still early on in the process and these proposals are both likely to change in the coming weeks. We will continue to update you as we learn more.