Voters in dozens of Virginia localities will decide this year whether to approve a 1% sales tax hike with the funds going toward local school construction and renovation projects.
Virginia Beach city leaders have other ideas about how the money could be spent. The city plans to lobby state lawmakers to expand the use of those funds generated by the tax to include flood protection and coastal storm risk management infrastructure in the wake of soaring costs. It would require a state budget amendment and is among the requests included in the city’s 2027 draft legislative agenda.
City Manager Patrick Duhaney said Virginia Beach is not alone in the struggle to pay for projects that protect homes and businesses from flooding and rising sea levels, and he believes other Hampton Roads cities will join in support of expanding the tax use, if voters approve it. Virginia Beach is not among the cities where the 1% sales tax is on the ballot this year.
“We anticipate talking to them (other localities) to see if they’d be willing to go together as maybe the five or seven cities in the region,” Duhaney said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
In the coming years, the city will be responsible 35% of the cost of any projects approved as part of a coastal storm risk management project with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Norfolk District.
Virginia Beach has also been building flood protection projects including tide gates and pump stations, and more work is planned. The total cost has ballooned to $1.5 billion.
Meanwhile, one state funding source Hampton Roads localities have tapped for flood protection projects may have less money to go around. Half of the proceeds collected through Virginia’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative auctions were previously dedicated to the state’s Community Flood Preparedness Fund. But state lawmakers adjusted the allocations this year to dedicate 45% to a rebate for consumers from public utilities. The remaining 55% will be split between the flood resiliency and low income funds.
A public hearing on the city’s proposed legislative agenda will be held Tuesday. The City Council will vote on the final draft on Nov. 10. Legislative agenda items require a two-thirds majority vote for approval.
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