|
|
||
County residents will decide in November whether the county should borrow $238 million. Date published: 8/2/2006
By GEORGE WHITEHURST
Stafford County residents will decide in November whether the county should borrow $238 million to finance new parks and a variety of road improvements. If the voters sign off on a pair of referendum questions approved last night by the Board of Supervisors, the county will sell general obligation bonds to finance the infrastructure projects. General obligation bonds are backed by the county's taxing authority. Depending on how quickly county government sells the bonds, tax increases could be needed to repay the debt load. Supervisors Joe Brito and Pete Fields voted against the question. Brito argued that the size of the package won't keep pace with inflation, and that the county is giving short shrift to traffic fixes for U.S. 17. "I'm very concerned about the spending habits of this board," he said. "I really have a concern about pumping this much money into our roads. There's more roads that need to be fixed that aren't on this plan than there are on this plan." He also predicted the bonds would impose a heavy burden on Stafford taxpayers. County Administrator Steve Crosby told supervisors it will cost the county about $11.7 million annually, about 7.3 cents of the real estate tax rate, to repay the transportation bonds. Fields worried aloud that the bond package didn't go far enough, especially in terms of laying the foundation for a true mass transit system. "It's going to cost money to create a sustainable future," he said. "This approach, though very well-intentioned is not going to get us down the road we need to go down." Supervisor Mark Dudenhefer responded that the board shouldn't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. "I'll be the first to acknowledge this is not the perfect solution," he said. "We've worked on this thing for almost seven months. It's as good as we can get it without having to wait another year." The voters, he stressed, should get "a chance to step up to the plate and take ownership of our problems." The General Assembly is slated to hold a special session next month to tackle statewide transportation issues. Board Chairman Bob Gibbons expressed hope yesterday that the $161 million ballot question will send a message to lawmakers.
1. Be respectful. No personal attacks.
|
|
||||||||||||
