
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 2, 1994                   TAG: 9403020142
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: MARGARET EDDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

SENATE LEAVES TOLLS TO VA. BEACH VOTE

A Senate subcommittee Tuesday passed the issue of Virginia Beach Toll Road tariffs to the Virginia Beach City Council.

Faced with a dispute between public officials who say tolls are needed to pay for improvements on Virginia 44 and citizens who want them gone, the subcommittee voted 3-0 to let the council decide the issue.

"This puts the responsibility exactly where it belongs," said Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Springfield. . But individuals on both sides of the question were quick to brand it a wily dodge.

"It's typical buck-passing," said Pat Murphy, a South Hampton Roads radio talk-show host who helped lead two bus loads of toll-haters to a public hearing at the Capitol.

Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf, who recently joined in an 11-0 council vote against removing tolls until Route 44 improvements are made, also criticized the idea.

"They control the expenditures, they control the road," said Oberndorf. "Since this all originated in the General Assembly, it's interesting they'd now want to know what the council thinks."

Toll advocates, including Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce representatives and a spokesman for the Virginia Beach city manager, said they'd be happy to see the levies go. But not before sound barriers are erected and interchanges are in place.

"We can make improvements [with the toll money] over the next five to seven years," and then remove the tolls, said Sen. Clarence Holland, D-Virginia Beach, the only city lawmaker agreeing with the officials. "Or we can wait 20 years for those improvements."

But Dennis Hunter, a Virginia Beach engineer who left about 5:30 a.m. for the bus trip to Richmond, said the greater public policy issue is one of integrity. Virginia Beach residents were promised when they approved the tolls almost three decades ago that the fees would be removed once the road was paid for, he said.

Less than $7 million remains to be paid on the bonds, while tolls have generated a reserve of $32 million.

"Of course, it's not easy to keep your word. . . . The hard decision, but the right decision is to keep your word," said Hunter.

Keywords:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1994

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