PORTSMOUTH — City Council voted this week to make it known they oppose any impending sale of the Virginia International Gateway to the Port of Virginia as it could cost the city about $9 million of tax revenue.
Members unanimously passed a resolution at their Tuesday meeting. Mayor Shannon Glover also read a letter addressed to Portsmouth’s General Assembly members calling on them to do all they can to avoid the sale — at least until there’s a better long-term plan to boost the city’s tax base.
In a statement provided to The Virginian-Pilot on behalf of the city attorney, the city said the Port of Virginia is “considering buying out the private owner and taking full ownership of VIG.” Though the city has heard rumblings of a potential sale, the resolution passed was also a precautionary measure to make the city’s stance known.
The Virginia International Gateway is privately owned and leased to the Port of Virginia. It generates about $9 million in property tax revenue for the city each year, equivalent to about 9 cents on Portsmouth’s tax rate. For a fiscally stressed city with about 40% of its land unable to be taxed due to state or federal ownership, Portsmouth said in its statement that any sale would “cause long-term economic devastation for the city and its residents.”
The VIG, owned by Connecticut-based Alinda Capital Partners and Universities Superannuation Scheme, is a roughly 300-acre container terminal along Portsmouth’s waterfront. Alinda Capital Partners could not be reached for comment by time of publication.
“The Council and the City of Portsmouth, Virginia, is vehemently opposed to the acquisition of VIG by the Port of Virginia unless and until the Port and/or the Commonwealth enter into a binding agreement with the City to make annual payments substantially equivalent to the lost tax revenue,” the statement reads.
However, a spokesperson with the Port of Virginia said he’s unsure what led to that resolution, reiterating a statement Virginia Port Authority Board Chair Aubrey Layne provided to WAVY-TV this week.
“I have no idea why Portsmouth is voting on that resolution,” Layne told WAVY-TV. “I haven’t heard anything in board meetings about this so I can’t opine.”
The Virginia Port Authority is a political subdivision of the commonwealth that owns the Port of Virginia and is composed of nearly a dozen governor-appointed commissioners. In 2016, a lease agreement was reached between the port authority and VIG that spans decades, running through 2065.
“(Our) position is that we’re leasing this facility. And that’s going to be the case until 2065, which is part of the lease agreement,” Port of Virginia spokesperson Joe Harris told The Virginian-Pilot.
Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com
