Del. Jim LeMunyon (R-67th District) prefiled a bill Dec. 30 that would give veto power to the Boards of Supervisors of Fairfax and Loudoun counties on any toll increase on the Dulles Toll Road.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority now approves toll increases and controls the toll road. The toll increased by 25 cents Jan. 1 and is scheduled to increase again Jan. 1, 2012.

The money collected at the toll helps to pay for the Silver Line being built from East Falls Church, through Tysons Corner, to Ashburn. Click here for an in-depth look at how the toll money is distributed.

LeMunyon said in a statement Dec. 30 he is concerned toll increases will deter drivers from using the toll road, causing congestion on nearby roadways, such as Interstate 66 and Route 7.

"[The bill] aims to bring more transparency to the financing of Metrorail to Dulles and ensure that elected officials are held accountable for transportation planning in Northern Virginia, especially since a toll is just a tax of different form," LeMunyon said in the statement.

If passed, the legislation would give the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, in addition to Loudoun County's board, a say in whether tolls increase in the future — a power the Board didn't ask for, but is not opposed to having, said Sharon Bulova, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

But there is one exception: It can't jeopardize the rail to Dulles project, Bulova said.

"The bottom line, it would appear to me that Del. LeMunyon is attempting to make sure that tolls are low enough where we're not discouraging riders on the Toll Road, and that would be a good thing," Bulova said. "But an unintended consequence could be [it hurts] one of the major transportation initiatives of both Fairfax County and Loudoun County, and that is financing the rail to Dulles project. And that would be disastrous."

LeMunyon said the intent of the bill is not to obstruct the rail project, but to bring a regional focus to the Toll Road rather than the Toll Road-centric view taken on by the Dulles Corridor Advisory Committee, which MWAA said is already working to address the delegate's concerns.

DCAC is a body of elected officials, along with a representative from the governor's office, that advises MWAA on decisions regarding the Toll Road, including toll increases.

LeMunyon said though DCAC is made up of elected officials, those officials are elected in a different capacity and then appointed to the board. The delegate wants the Board of Supervisors, who are already elected to make decisions regarding transportation and other regional issues, to have a say.

"The purpose they serve on the advisory board is specifically related to the Toll Road," LeMunyon said in an interview Jan. 3. "It's not to take into account regional priorities, regional concerns."

MWAA released a statement dated Dec. 30 saying LeMunyon's legislation "would substantially harm the ability of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to finance and build the Metrorail system through the Dulles Corridor and have a negative impact on the economic development of Northern Virginia."

The bill would hurt MWAA's ability to sell bonds because those bonds must be backed by the revenue generated from the Dulles Toll Road, and MWAA will be unable to prove revenue will be available to pay back the bonds, MWAA said in the statement.

LeMunyon said a better long-term plan is needed for paying for the rail project, saying the tolls should maximize the use of the roads in order to generate the revenue they need. Once that's established, a decision on how much borrowing can be afforded should be determined, he said.

"Instead we're going at it the other way around. You know, we've gotta build this project, whatever money we can't raise from federal, state or local governments we're gonna go borrow," LeMunyon said. "And then the tolls will be whatever they have to be to cover that borrowing, whether anybody wants to drive the Toll Road to pay those tolls or not."

LeMunyon said he wants the Dulles Toll Road and the Dulles Greenway, which is privately owned and would also be affected by the legislation, to be utilized as much as possible.

"The Toll Road and the Greenway are very important transportation corridors that are going to be important to reducing congestion in Northern Virginia and we're going to need a policy that's going to maximize their use which may be different than maximizing tolls," he said.

The 2011 legislative session begins Jan. 12.