Yes, it’s that time of year again. The real reason that Virginia’s elections are staggered with the federal elections is so that the counties can hit you with a new bond referendum every stinkin’ year. Well, here we go again, with a new $77 million bond referendum. Here is a snippet from the Fairfax County website touting the wonderful idea of going further into debt:
The Fairfax County Park Authority currently administers over 24,000 acres of parkland and 400 individual parks. These include county parks that provide countywide services, including family playgrounds, picnic facilities, golf, camping, skating, boating; stream valley trails, natural resource areas and historic sites; district parks that provide area-wide services, such as athletic field complexes, RECenters, dog parks and athletic courts; and local-serving parks with playgrounds, fields, courts, picnic areas and open space.
So why do we need more? They do not say.
Now, in the “Information for Residents” package, which I have not found on-line, they answer a few questions:
Q: Will these bonds cause an tax rate increase?
A: The bond program, as designed, will not contribute to an increase in your tax rate.
Uh, right. How are we going to pay off the bonds? Well, let’s look at how we’re paying off the bonds we already have:
Q: What percentage of my taxes goes toward paying for the bonds?
A: Over the past 20 years, the share of taxes used to pay debt service has fluctuated from 7.5% to a high of 9.3%. Currently, the rate is about 8% and is projected to remain as such….
So, our taxes are about 8% higher than they would be if we hadn’t sold bonds in the past? Not quite, but that’s a good start. Here’s the good stuff (on the last page, of course):
Q: What is the county’s total bonded indebtedness?
A: As of June 30, 2008, the total of general obligation bond and other tax-supported debt from FY 2009 through FY 2035, or the next 26 years, is $2.26 billion in principal. The total interest payments on the outstanding debt is $0.79 billion.
Naturally, they put it in billions to make it look small. That’s $790 million, per year, in interest payments. So, if we were not paying the interest on these old bonds, we would have more than ten times as much money available as they now say they need for the Park Authority. So, we could have our new parks and park improvements, and lower taxes, if only they had paid for such things in the first place, rather than selling bonds and telling us itwill not cause our taxes to go up.
Thanks for providing this public service. Additional information is available at http://www.fcta.org , website of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Associaton.
In general, I vote against bond items unless they are for public safety and seem very necessary now. I figure the government, like the rest of us, has to belt tighten. I’d rather pay more for County classes, golf courses and to get into the ReCenters, all of which are bargains now.
I am not against all bonds. I voted in favor of a firetruck and improvements to our aging fire station once, when I lived in a small town in New England. That’s probably the last public expenditure I was asked about that I voted “yea” for. Seemed kind of necessary. The firetruck we were replacing was 10 years older than me.
Most of what I’m asked to vote for to spend money on here in Fairfax County does not seem necessary to me if the County managed its money better or opted to charge a little more for services that are undercharged for right now. Of course, they have to be careful not to price themselves out of the recreation market.