Officials from Arlington and Falls Church have endorsed a regional plan to support the Metro system with $460 million per year.
County Board Chair Takis Karantonis and Falls Church City Council member David Snyder were part of the 22-0 vote, with two abstentions, as the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) board of directors backed the funding plan laid out in late October by the DMV Task Force.
In remarks during the meeting on Monday, Karantonis said the package was a good step forward, but didn’t necessarily go far enough to meet future transit needs.
“We’re kind of in a hurry — we need to realize the improvement as soon as possible,” he said.
Karantonis voiced concern that annual increases in the funding, limited to 3% in the DMV Moves proposal, might prove inadequate.
“I want to provide service to increase demand,” he said. “I want the flexibility to respond to the demand that may come sooner than the 3% suggests.”
In response, Nick Donohue — a former state transportation official who served as facilitator for DMV Moves — said that Karantonis’ concerns are being met in the big picture.
“The flexibility exists for the region to choose the service levels that are right,” he said.
On balance, Karantonis told ARLnow after the meeting, the final action proved “an excellent outcome for Arlington and all our residents”:
“The adopted resolution represents historic progress toward reliable and dedicated funding sources for Metro. Secondly, it describes with precision Metro and the region’s commitments to each other. This shows our unwavering support to providing equitable, modern, and efficient transportation choices that benefit all of the DMV’s residents and supports our economy.”
Karantonis was, in effect, casting his vote on behalf of himself and fellow County Board members Matt de Ferranti and Maureen Coffey. All three serve on the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission board, which earlier this month supported the DMV Moves proposal.
The non-binding proposal sets two main goals: improving capital-projects funding for Metrorail while developing pathways to give the bus network priority over other vehicular traffic in congested corridors of the region’s roadways.
The package adopted on Nov. 17 gives leaders in Virginia, D.C. and Maryland the flexibility to determine how to provide their share of the funding, which for fiscal year 2028 is estimated to be:
Virginia: $136 million
D.C.: $173 million
Maryland: $152 million
The DMV Moves effort would build on recent successes improving Metro’s financial and safety conditions, said Snyder, who chairs the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission.
“We have re-achieved our status as a world-class transit system, and, frankly, I don’t want to lose that,” he said.
At the Nov. 17 meeting, elected officials from both D.C. and Maryland voiced concern about the funding that would be required of them. Virginia leaders will attempt to get legislation passed in the 2026 General Assembly session to increase taxes and fees to fund the cost.
COG executive director Clark Mercer said local leaders would have to make the case at the state level.
“Folks around this table have to prioritize if this is something worth fighting for,” he said. “It’s a prioritization game in Annapolis and Richmond.”
Fairfax County Supervisor Walter Alcorn (D-Hunter Mill), a board member of both COG and WMATA, said Fairfax would do its share.
“It is going to depend on all of us to be advocates,” he said. “You’re going to be seeing a lot of me in Richmond this January and February.”
