Goals and Key Issues
Goals I am committed to...
- Providing the services needed for the 300,000+ residents already here.
- Building essential public facilities, primarily new schools, when needed.
- Keeping the tax burden at the minimum reasonable level.
- Maintaining the County’s debt limit and AAA bond rating.
- Continuing to urge restraint in approving more residential development until the County can afford the necessary facilities and services required by new residents.
- Promoting new business/commercial development county-wide.
- Maintaining the rural economy and character of Western Loudoun.
- Continuing to press the State to develop an adequate sustainable source of transportation funding.
- Opposing the Outer Beltway and four-laning Route 9 and Route 50 beyond the suburban area.
All of these goals are directly related to resolving or preventing some of the adverse impacts of the key issues facing our citizens.
Key Issues
The issues that have been and will continue to be of utmost importance are:
- Congested Roads: Focusing scarce resources on east-west commuter routes, not north-south highways.
- Overcrowded Schools: Planning further ahead and focus on overcrowded schools first.
- Debt: Focusing on critical needs and maintain our AAA rating.
- Taxes: Avoiding higher taxes by building our business base and slowing residential growth.
Congested Roads
- I will continue to try to find whatever funding I can to improve as many roads as possible while pressing the Governor and General Assembly to recognize and accept their responsibility to provide a good transportation system, paid for by sustainable funding (not borrowed money as is currently the case) for the major economic engine of the entire state – Loudoun County and Northern Virginia.
- I will continue to support east-west transportation corridors in the eastern portion of the County while opposing north-south routes which would worsen, not relieve, our traffic burden.
- I will continue to support the Loudoun County Commuter Bus system.
- I will continue to support Metrorail to Dulles and into Loudoun County.
Overcrowded Schools
- I will continue to try to find funding to purchase the land and build the schools needed in all areas of the County before overcrowding becomes an issue.
- Where overcrowding has already occurred, I will continue to push funding for these schools to the head of the line.
Debt
- I will continue to insist that the County do everything within its power to adhere to the debt cap policy which I initiated in 2005 in order to maintain our AAA bond rating. It is imperative that we maintain this rating – it saves taxpayers millions of dollars each year.
- I will continue to work constantly to prioritize the need for various capital facilities so that the debt cap is not broken.
Rising Taxes
- To relieve the tax burden on homeowners, I will continue to pursue new business and commercial development, which broadens the tax base.
- I will continue to argue for restraint on approving any more residential development while the County is struggling to provide facilities and services for those who are already here.
- I will continue to concentrate my efforts on providing essential services for our citizens.
Why are we in this position?
There is a simple answer to this question: Too much residential growth too fast.
The last few Boards have continued to approve more residential development than the county can afford. As a result, the current backlog of approved but unbuilt residential units is 41,000, a 20 year backlog. Thus, the County’s growth will continue to be market driven for years to come. The County has no control over when these houses will be built. We must be prepared to move swiftly to provide essential facilities and services when these homes are built.
The charts below tell the story rather starkly.
Contrary to popular opinion, residential development does not pay for itself. The relationship between the increase in general and student population over the past 15 years and the increase in property taxes is indisputable.
This increase in taxes was predictable; my concern about taxes and debt is not new. When I first ran for the Board in 1995, I was emphasizing the tax/debt burden which the taxpayers would face in the future. The future is now here. This is why over the years I have consistently insisted on slowing residential growth to an affordable level, and why I have and will continue to urge my colleagues on the Board to do so. My family and I lived in Fairfax County during the years when it was going through a similar growth period. We saw the tax rate rise to what was, plainly speaking, |
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