In today’s Pilot, there is an article on the Virginia Beach council’s task force regarding the meal tax in that city. The task force recommended that council support “state legislation to require a referendum on any future meals tax increases.” That legislation has been proposed by Del. John J. Welch, R-Virginia Beach.
No dice, says council member Reba McClanan.
She and other council members said the city is handcuffed enough by the Dillon rule, which prohibits cities from exceeding powers given to them by the General Assembly.
Yep, that pesky Dillon Rule again. Even those who support a reduction in the meal tax rate understand its implications:
He [Chris Savvides, president of Black Angus Restaurant and Catering] said the city has only so many ways to raise revenue for its budget. “A lot of it is frustration because the state binds the council’s hands,” Savvides said Tuesday, referring to the Dillon rule.
At some point, Virginians are going to realize that the Dillon Rule needs to be modified or, in my opinion, scrapped. The ability of the legislature to have so much control over the cities and counties in Virginia hamstrings them – and disenfranchises us as voters.
Technorati Tags: Dillon Rule, Virginia
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
Isn’t it funny how Council members who swear they won’t raise a tax object to a referendum requirement?
Not funny at all. No reason to transfer even more power to the state than they already have.
You’re exactly right – the Dillon Rule needs to be scrapped. The problem is that our state legislators (of both political parties) like having that control over cities and counties. They can use their votes for permissive legislation as coin of the realm, swapping favors with each other and calling in debts.
Until there is a serious demand by the voters (lead by local elected officials?) that all candidates for state office “take the pledge” to repeal Dillon and make that a central issue in a campaign, we’re stuck with it.
The Dillon Rule is one of the biggest reasons why the Commonwealth finds itself not able to pay for things like transportation. Home Rule was the cry in the west when I was growing up, and with it, localities could levy and spend according to their needs, and it didn’t affect anybody. The ability to decide locally what the needs are is much better than the present system of going hat-in-hand to the legislature every time something needs to be changed.
Our county (Cumberland) would benefit from the removal of the Dillon Rule by being able to more accurately and fairly institute solutions based on local rationale, not whether politicians in Richmond think it is a good idea or not.
It is an albatross around the neck of every governmental unit in the Commonwealth.
So what your saying is the elimination of the Dillon rule will result in higher taxes and more spending.
HR:
What it means is that local governments can make decisions for themselves.
If you want tax cuts, then the accompanying service cuts are inevitable.
HL: You hit it. But local electeds are generally not going to try to get the rules changed, either. The reason is that it gives them an excuse not to do something. They hide behind it whenever they want to. Case in point: Norfolk’s right to referendum. The citizens of Norfolk basically have no right to referendum – the rules are so complex, that not a single referendum has ever succeeded. But is council going to ask for a charter change to make it easier for the citizens’ voices to be heard? Not on your life.
Mark: The whole argument boils down to the paternalistic nature of things in Virginia, i.e., “we (meaning the legislature) know what’s best for you.” Yeah, right.
Last time I looked, Virginia was the only state in the union that interprets the Dillon Rule this strictly. Surely all the other states can’t be wrong and Virginia be right. That’s why I raised the question with the governor four years ago and again last week. I think this issue is one of the more important ones that affects our lives without us realizing it.
What astounds me, and this comes from my experiences working in the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors’ Office, is the total lack of understanding and communication between local government and its state legislators. Former Delegate Dick Black, for example, kept inventing legislation that would total thwart everything that the majority of the BOS to include its Republican membership was trying to accomplish. Growth is the no. 1 issue in Loudoun and because of the Dillon Rule, the only means at our disposal to control rampant growth was zoning. And Del. Black fought us over that one, too! I am therefore quite distrustful of state legislators trying to wrestle even one iota of control away from local government. The Dillon Rule needs to be overhauled for sure, but you’ll probably never see a legislator from Virginia Beach leading the charge.
The Dillon Rule needs to be scrapped.
Here is just one example of a program that could be adjusted locally if the Dillon Rule were scrapped: the income and asset limit for real estate tax relief for the elderly and the disabled.
That is a really good example, Ingrid, and one with which I am quite familiar. It makes absolutely no sense to have the same limits in NoVA as SWVA or Hampton Roads.
Everyone: I think what it will take at this point is a high-importance lawsuit that gets decided in favor of the rights of people to be represented locally as well as in the state. In the case of the above example, I can imagine that just such a lawsuit could be filed any day now.
No one knows better what the local problems are than those elected to local government. We need to elect Democrats to our BOS and SB and they can progress from there. The convoluted solutions to local problems caused by this insistence over the Dillon Rule are dangerous for many reasons to local governments.
Anyone know why the idea of incorporation is not more popular?
Mark: It’s not a D or R problem, it’s a POWER problem. “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” or whatever that quote is. We have a majority of Ds on our city council (no elected school boards here – that would require council giving up power :evil:) but they are fighting tooth and nail on a project here called Bay Oaks.
No – we need to educate the people on the problems of the Dillon Rule and then only elect those willing to disband it. (Of course, I’ve been saying THAT for more than 10 years now.)
Next week is the fifth anniversary of the 9-11 attack. We should also remember it is the fifth year Bin Laden has not been captured by the party who say they are the best to fight terrorist.
We should also remember, William Dixon, that right after 9-11, Bin Laden’s relatives were allowed to leave the United States by plane, through airports that were supposedly closed, when the rest of us were grounded.
But back to the Dillon Rule: somone mentioned increased taxes. Yes, counties would be able to levy a local cigarette tax without approval by the General Assembly. Currently, those counties can only do that when it is expressly stated in the Virginia Tax Code, as in the case of Arlington and Fairfax.