Supervisor Responds to Blog Comments

The FEDS have a concept called Constrained Funding for road projects.

Basically the way it works is that for a 6 year time-frame you cannot have anymore projects that you can demonstrate assured funding for.

And each year, you ARE supposed to adjust the costs per inflation.

Elected leaders HATE this – because it means that they cannot have any more projects that they can prove they have money for.

The reason I bring this up is to point out that most counties – including Spotsylvania do not operate this way.

But the key point to remember is this. If you don’t have the money for the project – having it on a list – means what?

Will it cost you more if you wait? Of course.

continued…..

If the rate was 32 cents, some people would scream that it should be 29. You will NEVER make them happy.
They are also the MINORITY of the voting population.

Spotsy’s tax rate is 62 or 56 cents. Hanover’s is 81. Henrico is 89. Guess what? Hanover has farmers and rural areas as well, and they survive. I guess they have not let the tail wag the dog down there.

People who make 20k a year have provisions made by Spotsy County. The people crying are Lake Annaites who want to spend two weeks in Corolla, but instead have to spend two weeks in Duck becaue taxes are so high on their $800,000 home. Cry me a river.

Everyone, sooner or later taxes have to go up. I’m glad Connors has the guts to actually say it.

If you take the long view and make an assumption that better economic days are ahead, then you can make a strong argument for capital debt today rather than waiting until times improve. Construction firms and contractors are struggling just to survive and many now bid jobs at cost just to keep crews employed. They see the value of retaining experience even if it means going into debt. This unfortunate situation translates into an extraordinary opportunity for the County.

I would be in favor of going into a little debt today in order to get the very best price on a project I know I’ll do sometime in the future. Whether it’s TC’s dirt roads or a VRE station, you’ll never get a better price for the work than right now.

we had no power, due to an accident on Block House Rd. Connors reply to my post said it all, he verifys he wants it all and wants it now. That’s fine with me, but he needs to remember he isn’t the only one in the county that pays the bills. I voted NO on the road bond referendum because I do NOT believe the county should be in the road business. That is the commonwealths responsibility and I, for one, DO NOT believe the citizens or the local pols have placed enough pressure on the state pols to do their jobs. Howell et al have totally crippled VDOT. We have evolved into a society that wants all things for all peoples, regardless of cost, and today’s politicians see providing these things as ways to get reelected.

There are a couple of issues with debt that need to be appreciated.

first, is that the annual budget pays for operational expenses, some capital projects with outright cash – like vehicles AND …. debt service .. for financed capital projects.

So the budget is about how much debt service the county feels comfortable with – and it’s not just for this year.. it’s for a bunch of years after this year until that debt is paid off.

How much debt can the county undertake and still maintain an acceptable AA bond credit rating?

If you can’t afford something.. it don’t matter how much of a bargain it is…

so folks with credit cards and obscene credit balances never learn this…

If not mistaken, Wheeler & the BOS did the hard look at costs now verses waiting…

Gramps – you’re absolutely right: Richmond should be paying for transportation solutions. But, they’re not. Please let me know when you finish talking to Speaker Howell and Dels. Cole and Orrock about fulfilling this responsibility. Hopefully, they will listen to you. They haven’t been listening to us. I wish you much luck. Meanwhile, I will work with others locally and in the region to do what we can to pick up the slack and fix the transportation mess.

1. roads of state-wide significance – roads that connect Virginia – Interstates and Primary’s

2. – roads of regional significance – connect within regions like the Fredericksburg Area and FAMPO

3. – local roads for counties and cities

.. the state/vdot would do 1, the MPOS do 2 and localities do 3.

One of the reasons VDOT went broke is because we were adding 400 lane miles a year – virtually all of them – subdivisions or rural roads that needed to be expanded because of new subdivisions.

So.. when you lobby Mr. Howell and Mr. Houck, what you’re actually lobbying for is for them to increase your taxes and give that money to VDOT who will then decide how much Spotsylvania will get – thats the way it works right now.

Does anyone think that VDOT will get Spotsy MORE than it’s citizens pay in taxes?

Hey Gramps .. thanks for “unhiding”!

your taxes for transportation are NOT being diverted. In fact, 1/2% of the general sales tax – about half a billion dollars a year goes to VDOT.

The basic problem is that road maintenance has become so expensive along with the gas tax not adjusted for inflation – has left NO MONEY for new roads.

That’s the reality.

If you want new roads, you’ll have to pay for them.

My objection to the – “it’s the State’s Responsibility” is that if there is no more money – and believe me – this is NOT – then what you’re really asking for is a State level tax increase on your income tax or sales taxes or all these other fees that they cooked up for the Trans Authorities.

so you have your choice as to WHO you want to pay your increased taxes for new/better roads to:

correcton:

saying that it is a “State Responsibility” is NOT telling it like it really is – IF someone thinks the state has the money for transportation but is holding it back (ha ha) or spending it for something else (Ha Ha).

VDOT gets 4 Billion dollars a year – yes – that IS a “B”.

Virtually ALL of it current goes to maintain the existing road network.

In fact, unless the gas tax is raised – VDOT will go into the red on road maintenance next year at 250 million – and going up in the out years.

The gasoline tax is no longer generating the revenues it used to generate because cars are more efficient and people are buying less gas as the price of gas goes up.

The net result is less gas tax… and raising the gas tax.. only adds to the problem of making gas more expensive.. so folks buy less..etc.

lgross, we will have to agree to disagree regarding the gas tax. Increasing the gas tax is the fairest way to generate transportation monies. All road users should share the burden. BTW I do not see any gas stations closed due to lack of business. Nor do I see traffic congestion diminishing because people are driving less.

one penny on the gas tax generates about $50 million.

one mile of 4-lane interstate costs $20 million and urban interstate can cost $100 million and up per mile.

you can see from the numbers that it would take a heck of an increase in the gas tax to generate significant enough revenues to have an impact.

The numbers no longer work. Most folks don’t know the numbers. When they see the numbers.. their ideas of how to fix the problem change….

That’s what has happened to the GA.

it’s not that they do not want to act – it’s that in order to have a significant impact.. they’d have to raise the gas tax 25 cents or more and most of them from rural areas think that they’d get thrown out of office for that kind of an increase (rightly so)

Polls show that only 20% support a gas tax increase.

Also on page 10, we see that in 2007 the GF accounting line was “0.” A visit to the Auditor of Public Accounts – Commonwealth Data Point site reveals that the GF line has similarly been “0” since at least 2003. I believe the same is true for a considerable number of earlier years, but I cannot now prove it.

The $421,832,000 of retail sales and use taxes are also dedicated to construction and I am wondering if that is also a “rare” occurrence in a long time. The fine print at the top of page 9 of above reference says, “Special Session funds include motor vehicle fuels tax, motor vehicle sales tax, and state retail sales and use tax.” That caveat may make those funds also vulnerable in the special session. I also applaud that action if these funds survive. Every little bit helps.