Supervisors adopt tax increase

Being a believer in the “KISS” method; I like to boil things down to their simplest terms, if possible.

I have read all of the above posts. Sometimes to the point of having my eyes cross, since I have read some several times.

I think the central question in this discussion revolves around, is their an implied or actual approval of a tax increase when the citizens approve a bond referendum. My KISS view is that there is an actual approval of accepting public debt when we approve a bond referendum. The source of the money to pay that debt can be derived from numerous places, fund reserves, general fund, etc., including a tax increase. It is the job of our elected representatives, in our representational form of gov., to make those decisions.

Larry, was you question in post “2″ directed at me or, as you wrote, to DJ?

Okay, that is what I thought, but I wanted to be sure. I, too, am interested in their answers.

I’d have preferred a referendum over much of the decisions made on this topic over the last 20 years. 16 of them, actually.

Sure would be nice to have supervisors who understood the value of a dollar however. I feel like they are VERY left-wing, basically never once even considering a tax cut during the Recession- which would have been the wise thing to do- and instead raising our taxes over 15%.

If there were more balance on the board in favor of holding the line on spending and taxes, I might entrust the supervisors with it. However, as it stands, I would prefer a referendum so they could see what the citizens of the county felt about their taxation policy.

I left off at 95 and you guys added another 12. I’ll catch up. The first 95 have produced the need to respond in the windmills of my mind, but your additional thoughts and dialogue deserve to be included. I’ll try not to be too harsh in my rebuttal comments.

The 2005 referendum, pre and post public approval was a show I bought tickets for. Libraries, Parks and Recreation and the cost of Transportaion were well attended. The education lobby chose to boycott all meeting. Lewis Watts, Code Compliance introduced Rodney White as the County’s delegated representative on all issues associated with County’s transportation needs. Spotsylvania County citizens voted in the $144 million in transportation projected cost. What the citizens were to learn later was that the $144 million was 45% short of what it should have been. The FLS archives can attest to this. Give Dan a call and I’m sure he can pull this information up for anyone interested in the fine print and those pesky details we keep leaving out.

Since the borrowing from this sum was not used, but refered to on many occassions by the BOS, it never rose to the level of borrowing that would lead to additional property taxes being levied against property owners; residential or commercial.

It was always understood, and Supv Logan can attest that to borrow from the 2005 referendum money would necessitate raising Real Esate taxes. This available money, $144 million remained in tact until 2008 and 2009 when Cosner and Silver couldn’t underwrite, or find appropriate financing for their projects in the open market, and who better to finace their projects than the County, who converted somewhere in the area of $27 million of the 2005 referendum, into GO-Bonds, at 3.3% interest rate, to be paid back by Silver and Cosner over a 20 year period. It’s 2010 and Real Estate taxes have been raised to, in part,, cover the debt service encountered to cover withdrawals from the 2005 Referendum money which now has a balance of just over $100 million.

So, for all the convoluted circles we have put to print, WE still don’t know, or care what’s going on behind closed doors. If the Free Lance-Star, Dan Televock or any citizen can gain admission to the Spotsylvania County “FOCUS GROUP” meetings, why try to debate only half of the story?

I fail to understand how anyone in Spotsylvania County can make an informed decision on what the tax rate should be, or should not be. DJ and Steve had the right idea but for all the wrong reasons. Political agendas may be a reality of some sort, but who’s going to listen when you use WE as a preamble to your next thought on fiscal management and business protocols? Who is WE? Larry and Bill will play to this hand every time anyone comes up with real numbers and real issues.

I can still recall and have documented how Dan, Bill and Larry drove off some very real and defining statistics which the County chose to ignore, for the sake of building their empire, that comes with a moat and draw bridge. His calling card was VECORRESPONDENT.

I have often refered to our BOS as an oligarchy, in the PUBLIC FORUM. When they eliminated 12 oversight committees from the volunteer/ free of charge citizen membership (with amazing skills in finance) for the BOS’s claim they needed more efficiency, without the details or fine print.

However, you may be more inclined to take Larry’s definition of “perspective” if your address is different from his and you weren’t raised in Fredericksburg.

I was raised in Virginia, but Larry’s perspective is confined to Spotsylvania, Stafford Counties and Fredericksburg proper. I’m not really certain what ones perspective is or should be about matters of government being played out nationally,or State or Locally. If I were to do, as Larry suggest, I might be better off saying nothing, which I believe Larry and Bill would endorse.in a heart beat. While the truth is hard to come by in today’s cultural evolution, I continue to believe some part of the truth may lead us to question and get better at asking the hard questions and getting back something other than silence, mixed messages, and the arrogance of those who pretend to rule, without knowing anything about the price and consequences of THEIR vision.

I assume that all dialog is dead here, eh?

I’ll assume the dialog died of natural causes. It usually happens when we’re all in agreement and there’s nothing more to say. Let’s wrap up now. We shouldn’t be too far away from the next bump in the road. Larry, you said it best. “Its only going to get smellier.” I’ll take Bill’s advise and take in a deep breathe, but I’m not sure what’s going to happen when I exhale. Thanks for the memories.