(The following article by Ruth Finch and Edie Gross was posted on the Free Lance Star website on February 16.)
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — Stafford County’s supervisors rejected a request from Virginia Railway Express for more money yesterday, saying riders ought to pay any extra costs themselves next year.
VRE officials have said that they need another $1.1 million next year, largely to cover higher fuel and insurance costs as well as rising fees owed to Amtrak for access to Union Station.
They recommended that cost be split between riders and VRE member communities.
Riders would’ve paid an extra 2.75 percent for tickets, and local governments would have contributed an extra $525,060 to VRE, including $90,202 from Stafford.
But Stafford supervisors said yesterday that they don’t want to put any more taxpayer dollars into the commuter rail, especially when so many Spotsylvania County residents ride it while that county pays nothing.
“We are asking Stafford taxpayers to subsidize Spotsylvania residents, who are about half of the riders,” Stafford Supervisor Gary Snellings said. “I don’t know what the answer is.”
More than 900 Spotsylvania residents ride the VRE trains each day. They make up only 12 percent of the riders, but account for 92 percent of those boarding at the Fredericksburg train station.
More riders hail from Spotsylvania than from five of the eight VRE “member” communities, according to VRE statistics.
Spotsylvania has recently entertained the possibility of joining VRE and building a station in an existing train yard near Lee’s Hill. But that wouldn’t help the agency in the 2005-06 budget year, which begins July 1.
Stafford supervisors voted 5-1, with Bob Gibbons abstaining, to have passengers absorb VRE’s increased costs next year. Supervisor Jack Cavalier, who wanted the county to share that burden with passengers, voted no.
As for the growing animosity toward Spotsylvania riders, Cavalier pointed out that once Stafford residents get off VRE, many ride Metro–something Stafford doesn’t help pay for.
Gibbons, who sits on the VRE Operations Board, said he abstained because he didn’t want to influence the other supervisors.
“I could’ve gone either way,” he said.
He did tell supervisors that passengers could probably afford the increase.
“The thing that concerns some of the people who live in my district is that the people who ride VRE are pretty affluent,” Gibbons said. “By subsidizing their fares even more, some people don’t feel that’s right.”
Under Stafford’s proposal, passengers would face a fare hike of nearly 5.5 percent next year. For a Stafford resident who travels to D.C. and uses a VRE monthly ticket, the annual increase would be about $140.
And Stafford riders wouldn’t be the only ones to pay it. VRE’s budget requires a unanimous vote of all its member communities to pass.
Even if the other seven locales agree to split VRE’s growing costs with passengers, Stafford’s vote could hold up the process. Ultimately, if Stafford’s plan wins out, all passengers–some 16,000 of them a day–would face the larger fare increases.
This comes on the heels of unpopular fare increases this year. Though prices went up an average of 6 percent systemwide, some tickets–particularly in the Fredericksburg region–rose as much as 18 percent.
Most of the member communities, including Stafford and Fredericksburg, use a 2 percent local gas tax to support the VRE. They were permitted to levy the tax only after joining VRE in the first place.
In 2003, Stafford raised $1.8 million from that tax. After paying its VRE share, more than $1.2 million was left over for road and other transportation projects.
Dale Zehner, VRE’s chief executive officer, said he was surprised by Stafford’s decision, especially since so much of that tax money remains.
“Here they’re sitting on a pile of money and they don’t want to put a little of that toward VRE,” he said. “‘We’ve got all this money, but we don’t want to pay our share. Let’s put the burden on the riders.'”
Elaine McConnell, chairwoman of the VRE Operations Board and a Fairfax County supervisor, said she wasn’t sure how this would affect the budget process.
“I just don’t see how they can do that,” she said. “They have to pay their share.”
The VRE Operations Board is scheduled to meet this Friday. Stafford’s vote likely will be discussed.