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It’s a similar situation to the one we encountered last year, when it comes to the General Assembly. The Virginia Senate has passed SB1307, which would revive the discussion over increasing sales tax, in order to pay for school construction. Now it’s a question of what will happen in the Virginia House and if Gov. Glenn Youngkin will veto this bill, as he did the one that came to his desk last year. 

The final Senate vote was 27-13, with Prince Edward’s Luther Cifers as one of the no votes. Senator Tammy Mulchi, who also represents this region, voted in favor of the bill, which is drawn up much like the one she put through last year, on the request of the Prince Edward County board of supervisors. This year, Prince Edward officials have stepped away from trying to push for such a bill, however staff said they would support one if it came through. 

So first off, a quick reminder why this is being proposed. 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. Prince Edward is currently in the midst of a renovation of Prince Edward Elementary and hoped to use a bill like this last year to help fund that. Other counties are considering the same thing. But first, they need permission. 

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.

A new version might make it through 

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, has now made it out of the Senate and goes to the House this week. 

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 Prince Edward residents vote to increase the sales tax. And let’s be clear, they would have to vote yes before any increase takes place. No vote, no increase. Then that would mean the increase could only stay in place for a maximum of 20 years. 

Is a sales tax increase needed? 

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.