by Neil Richard
On October 23rd, the Board of Supervisors met to finalize their Capital Improvement Program (CIP) plan for the coming year. There was bad news and worse news, depending on where you stand with the idea of a new Courthouse.
Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator, broke the bad news first. Any future capital projects would need to be funded by borrowing more money. And to cover that new borrowing, tax rates would need to go up. In breaking down his math, Dr. Young explained that future revenue from the landfill has already been leveraged in full. While this has already been discussed at length by the Board for several years, Young went on to explain that by including the annual school bus purchase, annual ambulance purchase, and annual Sheriff's Office radio purchases, the expected funding available from the landfill drops to a paltry $192,000 per year. [EDITOR'S NOTE - Neil Richard, a co-founder of Project94, is the Chair of the Landfill Advisory Committee.]
This led to the data showing that any new borrowing would result in an annual debt payment. In other words, borrowing money means a loan payment needs to be made. Using the current King George Middle School Expansion Project as a rough estimate, Young said that for every $10 million borrowed, $500,000 a year in loan payments would need to be made. Although other variables like the market, interest rates, and costs weren't factored into this estimate, it was a solid starting point for wrapping your head around future borrowing.
From here, Dr. Young explained that a one (1) cent tax increase means $270,000 in revenue for the County. Therefore, $500,000 in loan payments equals a two (2) cent tax increase. Which means that if the County wants to borrow $40 million to build a giant warehouse for Beanie Babies, they would need to raise taxes eight (8) cents to cover the cost of the annual loan payment.
Dr. Young then laid out the real bad news of the night. Due to upcoming financial needs, a tax increase is needed. The SAFER Grant expires soon and will need one to two cents to cover the costs. The Virginia Retirement System (VRS) hasn't raised rates and will likely do so in the coming year resulting in a one to two cent tax increase. Another penny increase would be needed to cover the increased cost of healthcare and another penny for the Rappahannock Regional Jail. The school budget would also likely result in another two or three cents. While all of the projections and predictions were not verified and set in stone, they gave the Board a solid gut check in looking at what the future held: the high probability of a tax increase.
With the bad news out of the way, Dr. Young asked the Supervisors to come to a consensus on the Courthouse decision. With the new information in front of them, the Board discussed where they stood. A majority decided that a 50,000 square foot Courthouse was the best option. This would mean no more 13,000 square feet of shared space for the County staff as they discussed at their last CIP meeting on the Courthouse. It also meant that the Courthouse would double in size but still be smaller than what they needed as soon as they move in. Cathy Binder was the lone Supervisor asking for more space and more to preserve the existing Courthouse but to manage everything through a phased approach. The residents on the Citizen Budget Advisory Committee and the rest of the Supervisors agreed that 50,000 square feet seemed adequate and that the existing Courthouse should be preserved in some way. If that meant removing newer portions or remodeling or something else was yet to be decided. However, both Binder and Vic Mason did let the Board know that the mold had returned to the Courthouse despite recent remediation work.
Once that decision was made, the Board then went on to discuss other capital projects and it was decided that a committee of citizens would likely be a good thing to have to help the Supervisors gather more input and new ideas. Part of that discussion was the future needs of the School Board, their offices, and the Pre-School. Some Supervisors seemed to be frustrated that the School Board hadn't taken action on the old King George Elementary School or other projects over the years.
On October 23rd, the Board of Supervisors met to finalize their Capital Improvement Program (CIP) plan for the coming year. There was bad news and worse news, depending on where you stand with the idea of a new Courthouse.
Dr. Neiman Young, County Administrator, broke the bad news first. Any future capital projects would need to be funded by borrowing more money. And to cover that new borrowing, tax rates would need to go up. In breaking down his math, Dr. Young explained that future revenue from the landfill has already been leveraged in full. While this has already been discussed at length by the Board for several years, Young went on to explain that by including the annual school bus purchase, annual ambulance purchase, and annual Sheriff's Office radio purchases, the expected funding available from the landfill drops to a paltry $192,000 per year. [EDITOR'S NOTE - Neil Richard, a co-founder of Project94, is the Chair of the Landfill Advisory Committee.]
This led to the data showing that any new borrowing would result in an annual debt payment. In other words, borrowing money means a loan payment needs to be made. Using the current King George Middle School Expansion Project as a rough estimate, Young said that for every $10 million borrowed, $500,000 a year in loan payments would need to be made. Although other variables like the market, interest rates, and costs weren't factored into this estimate, it was a solid starting point for wrapping your head around future borrowing.
From here, Dr. Young explained that a one (1) cent tax increase means $270,000 in revenue for the County. Therefore, $500,000 in loan payments equals a two (2) cent tax increase. Which means that if the County wants to borrow $40 million to build a giant warehouse for Beanie Babies, they would need to raise taxes eight (8) cents to cover the cost of the annual loan payment.
Dr. Young then laid out the real bad news of the night. Due to upcoming financial needs, a tax increase is needed. The SAFER Grant expires soon and will need one to two cents to cover the costs. The Virginia Retirement System (VRS) hasn't raised rates and will likely do so in the coming year resulting in a one to two cent tax increase. Another penny increase would be needed to cover the increased cost of healthcare and another penny for the Rappahannock Regional Jail. The school budget would also likely result in another two or three cents. While all of the projections and predictions were not verified and set in stone, they gave the Board a solid gut check in looking at what the future held: the high probability of a tax increase.
With the bad news out of the way, Dr. Young asked the Supervisors to come to a consensus on the Courthouse decision. With the new information in front of them, the Board discussed where they stood. A majority decided that a 50,000 square foot Courthouse was the best option. This would mean no more 13,000 square feet of shared space for the County staff as they discussed at their last CIP meeting on the Courthouse. It also meant that the Courthouse would double in size but still be smaller than what they needed as soon as they move in. Cathy Binder was the lone Supervisor asking for more space and more to preserve the existing Courthouse but to manage everything through a phased approach. The residents on the Citizen Budget Advisory Committee and the rest of the Supervisors agreed that 50,000 square feet seemed adequate and that the existing Courthouse should be preserved in some way. If that meant removing newer portions or remodeling or something else was yet to be decided. However, both Binder and Vic Mason did let the Board know that the mold had returned to the Courthouse despite recent remediation work.
Once that decision was made, the Board then went on to discuss other capital projects and it was decided that a committee of citizens would likely be a good thing to have to help the Supervisors gather more input and new ideas. Part of that discussion was the future needs of the School Board, their offices, and the Pre-School. Some Supervisors seemed to be frustrated that the School Board hadn't taken action on the old King George Elementary School or other projects over the years.
SUBSCRIBE OR DONATE
You can subscribe via email here. You can make a charitable donation here.
The real world rears its ugly head!! Kudos for this board not continuing to kick the can down the road!
ReplyDelete