This letter, sent on April 7 to U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly, U.S. Rep. Donald Beyer, and U.S. Rep. Jennifer Wexton, is shared with readers of The Connection.
Dear Honorable Members of the Northern Virginia Congressional Delegation:
As the Chairs and Mayors of the local governments of Northern Virginia representing nearly 2.5 million residents, we are writing to express our collective concern and support for a new stimulus package that helps the local governments in the region that have had our collective budgets negatively impacted by the Coronavirus Pandemic.
As you may know, just among the categories of Sales Tax, Business, Professional and Occupation License Tax (BPOL), Transient Occupancy Tax and Meals Tax these combined revenues total nearly $1 billion as budgeted for the current fiscal year FY2020 – nearly 10 percent of all General Fund revenues across all the jurisdictions. For some jurisdictions these revenues represent more than 53 percent of total revenues. The anticipated impact of the Coronavirus Pandemic will be substantial to these and other revenues that our localities collect not only for the balance of this fiscal year (to June 30), but the next as well. And, this does not consider what impact potential State budget cuts will have on our local budgets.
These are extraordinary times and our local governments are on the front line of services to the residents of our region. Your support for our local governments is critical if we as a region and nation will recover from this crisis together.
Northern Virginia Regional Commission:
Libby Garvey, Chair, County of Arlington; Jeffrey McKay, Chairman, County of Fairfax; Phyllis Randall, Chair, County of Loudoun; Ann Wheeler, Chair, County of Prince William; Justin Wilson, Mayor, City of Alexandria; David Meyer, Mayor, City of Fairfax; David Tarter, Mayor of Falls Church, Chair of NVRC; Hal Parrish, Mayor, City of Manassas; Jeanette Rishell, Mayor, City of Manassas Park; Lisa Merkel, Mayor, Town of Herndon; Kelly Burk, Mayor, Town of Leesburg; Laurie DiRocco, Mayor, Town of Vienna