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Distinguished Members of the General Assembly:

My name is Arthur Purves. I address you as president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance. My topic is transportation.

First, please defeat legislation permitting red-light cameras. At intersections where red-light running is sufficiently frequent to warrant a camera, the timing on the yellow light is usually too short. Rather than cameras, just make sure that timing of traffic lights conforms to engineering standards.

Regarding the transportation crisis, out of its nearly $30-billion annual budget, the state spends $3.5 billion per year on transportation. We may need to double that. The Northern Virginia 2020 Transportation Plan states that $700 million per year of new funds is needed just to address Northern Virginia transportation needs. In contrast the Governor’s plan provides only $400 million per year for only two years, and that is statewide.

The reason for the transportation crisis is that virtually none of our state income taxes and only ten percent of sales taxes are spent on transportation. The General Fund spends about 5 billion on public schools, over $1 billion on public colleges, $3 billion on welfare, and almost nothing on transportation. Our burgeoning prison system I regard as an extension of the welfare system.

Last year the General Assembly raised taxes by $1.36 billion and did not spend a penny of it on transportation. One billion of the increase, however, went to public schools, even though the General Assembly's Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) has reported for years that Virginia state spending on public schools has been increasing nine times faster than enrollment — after adjusting for inflation. (Table 3, "Review of State Spending: December 2003 Update", JLARC) As for results, the minority student achievement gap demonstrates that public schools are a failure in providing equal opportunity to low-income students.

The claims that the state was not paying its fair share for public schools and that Virginia public-school spending per student was 40^th in the nation were half-truths. While Virginia was 40^th in terms of state funding, it was 13^th in terms of local funding. In terms of total funding per student, Virginia ranked 27^th. (See Table 11, "Public Education Finances: 2002", U.S. Census Bureau.) Of Virginia’s 136 school districts, the JLARC could find only three for which the Standards of Quality may have been underfunded (p. 55. "Review of Elementary and Secondary School Funding," February 6,2002, Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission).

Was increasing state taxes supposed to reduce local taxes? Since last year’s state tax hike, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has raised taxes. The tax hike was supposed to pay for elementary school art, music, and physical education teachers. We were already paying for those with our local taxes.

The transportation solution is to allow transportation to compete against public school and family-destroying welfare programs for income tax and all sales tax revenues. For example, elementary-school guidance counselors cost Fairfax County taxpayers $15 million per year. A new overpass on the Fairfax County parkway costs $20 million. What is more important: fifteen years of elementary-school guidance counselors or ten new overpasses?

Thank you.

Updated January 22, 2005