| home |
|
Northern Virginia Roundtable 2001 General Assembly Priorities
The members of the Northern Virginia Roundtable have supported quality of life initiatives for several years and reaffirm their belief that critical infrastructure improvements and fiscal policy changes must be made now or the quality of life in Northern Virginia will decline. Accordingly, the Roundtable urges members of the General Assembly to pass the following legislation this year: Regional Sales Tax Referendum · Secure legislation sponsored to allow voters in Northern Virginia (Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, City of Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Manassas Park) to vote on a referendum to raise the sales tax by 1 percent. The additional revenue would be dedicated to transportation and education infrastructure needs. The Roundtable supports legislation for a regional referendum rather than a referendum that would be voted on by each jurisdiction. Transportation Infrastructure · Secure legislation to authorize creation of a regional transportation authority for Northern Virginia with authority to bond in order to leverage revenue streams assigned to it by the public and private sector. · Support legislative initiatives that implement recommendations in the Transportation Compact to reinvent VDOT. · Secure legislation that implements recommendations in the final report from the Governor�s Commission on Transportation Policy. Virginia Higher Education Bond · Support Delegate Callahan�s legislation to authorize the issuance of Commonwealth of Virginia Higher Education and Related Educational Facilities Bond, not to exceed $900,000,000 subject to the approval of a majority of the voters in the November 6, 2001 general election. The Governor�s budget amendments include funding for the top two priority capital projects � Arlington II and Fairfax IV. Delegate Callahan�s legislation meets all of the highest priority capital needs for George Mason. Restore Budget Reductions for Higher Education The December 18, 2000 report of the Joint Subcommittee on Higher Education Funding Policies indicated that the base budget for George Mason University is short by $19-$21 a year and the Virginia Community College System (VCCS) is short by $61-67 million a year · Total appropriations per in-state student for George Mason University continues to average less than 70% of the average for all Virginia doctoral institutions. The Roundtable has made a commitment to making GMU a world class university and supports restoring $951,261 to the operating budget and allocating $1,016,107 for a 3.2% faculty salary increase. · To support the continued growth of Northern Virginia Community College, which is about 28% of the VCCS budget, the Roundtable supports restoring $2,416,528 for a 3.4% salary increase for full-time facility, $1,156,687 in 2000-2001 and $3,086,998 in 2001-2002 for expected management savings, $794,777, each year, to support tuition reduction offsets for enrollment growth and $398,882 to support opening of the Medical Education Campus |