Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Last year, it was neighboring Prince Edward County pushing for a sales tax increase. Or rather, for the ability to ask voters for one. This year, Prince Edward officials have stepped away from trying to push for such a bill. However, one has been revived in the Virginia Senate, with the potential to affect Lunenburg and the rest of the state. 

In Virginia, a city or county has to first get permission from the General Assembly, then citizens have to vote on the concept before a sales tax increase can happen. Currently, eight counties and one city have the authority to increase sales tax to fund school repairs. They include Charlotte County, Gloucester County, Halifax County, Henry County, Mecklenburg County, Northampton County, Patrick County, Pittsylvania County and the City of Danville. That’s it. If you’re not on that list, you can’t bring up a sales tax increase for a vote. 

Last year’s bill actually made it through the House and Senate, but was vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, as he said he had promised not to increase taxes. The new, slightly tweaked version, looks like it’ll make it out of the Senate this week. 

SB1307, filed by Sen. Jeremy McPike from Prince William County, was approved by the Virginia Senate Finance Committee last Wednesday, then made it through two readings in the full Senate with unanimous support. The final reading and vote in the Senate is expected this week, after which it would go to the Virginia House for a vote. 

A couple of changes, possibly for Lunenburg

There are a few changes in this year’s version of the statewide bill, as Sen. Creigh Deeds, a member of the Virginia Senate Finance Committee, explains. SB1307 would allow counties to let residents vote on if they would support a 1% sales tax increase, with the money being set aside for school construction. 

“We put some guardrails on the process to ensure the money raised is only used for new construction,” Deeds said. “(And we) set an expiration date of 20 years after the project is undertaken and the debt is paid.” 

As Deeds mentioned, this isn’t something county supervisors could allocate elsewhere. Under the current wording, money collected by the tax increase would have to go to new school construction. That means it also couldn’t be spent paying off previous school district debt from a project. Also, if this bill is approved in its current form, let’s say Lunenburg residents vote to increase the sales tax. Then that would mean the increase could only stay in place for a maximum of 20 years. 

Is it needed? Multiple school districts across Central and Southside Virginia are dealing with buildings that have long since started to fall apart. The Virginia Commission on School Construction and Modernization last year found that a number of school districts reported crumbling buildings. In fact, more than half of the K-12 school buildings in Virginia are currently more than 50 years old and have been “patched” multiple times, as rural counties in particular don’t have the funds for new construction. The commission found that the amount of funding needed to fully replace all of the crumbling school buildings in Virginia is estimated to be $24.8 billion.