Virginia's Governor: No-show Job Bob

April 6, 2012

The Roanoke Times editorializes on the state government shifting road maintenance costs to counties, "We agree with probably every county government in Virginia that shifting responsibility for secondary road maintenance from the state to counties is a terrible idea. At least it is if the only thing that changes is who pays the bills.... Lawmakers find it appealing because it would allow them to remove a costly line-item from the state budget. They remain loathe to increase revenue. Counties hate it because it could be a hefty unfunded mandate that would force them to raise local taxes. If the state makes counties pay for road maintenance, counties at least would need to receive the money that now goes to Richmond for roads."

Progressive Point: It would be nice if we could all have no-show jobs: just collect our paychecks and not do the work. Gov. Bob McDonnell is taking the tax dollars we paid for transportation but not doing the job. We face big transportation challenges but McDonnell is handing off responsibility, forcing counties to do the work and foot the bill. Hard working Virginians wish they could all be so lucky.

Being the Governor comes with decision-makign responsibilities. But yet again, McDonnell is passing the buck on using the money he's collected from our taxes to repair our transportation infrastructure. Simply put, No-Show Bob isn't doing the job. None of us expect a free ride--we proudly do our jobs and fulfill our duties every day. Our Governor should be expected to do the same.

Get the Facts:

• McDonnell's transportation proposals would result in "decades of austerity for public education, universities, safety net programs and state troopers," and, even if enacted, would not meet Virginia's road maintenance needs. Previous failures to meet maintenance costs have resulted in $2.8 billion in construction budget shortfalls since 2005. (Roanoke Times, December 12, 2011)


• Virginia ranks 7th in the country in per capita income, but 47th in per capita spending on transportation. The reason for such a large imbalance is the majority of Virginia's transportation funding comes from the fuel tax which currently sits at just 17 cents per gallon. However, the gas tax would be "35 cents today had it been indexed for inflation." (Bob Chase, president of the Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance, Daily Press, December 9, 2011)


• Virginia loses $12.5 billion in revenue a year through credits and giveaways that receive little-to-no scrutiny and accountability. (JLARC)

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