Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Not a "Single New Brick"
One benefit of having a blog is that I can point out when people are taking my words out of context for their own means. Such is the case this week with Mr. Nicholas Graham of Ashburn, whose letter to the editor was publised in both the Washington Post and Leesburg Today. He quotes me from a September board meeting as saying:
“I have no confidence that this measure will put a single new brick in a Loudoun County school. . . . I just want to make it clear that I think this meals tax will not have any impact in Loudoun County Public Schools.”These are my words, mostly accurately quoted by Mr. Graham and in a Leesburg Today article titled School Board Tentatively Supports Meals Tax, (a few key words are left out but nothing to argue over) and I stand by them. The article also quotes other school board members as well, so if you think School Board opinions about this issue are important, as Mr. Graham does, be sure to read the others, as well as a letter to the editor by Warren Geurin, my colleague from the Sterling District.
Folks who read the Leesburg Today article didn't have the benefit of my full remarks, which I have transcribed below from the recorded webcast (discussion begins at about the 1:45 mark).
First I asked whether the new tax would change the debt cap (the limit the Supervisors have set for borrowing money to purchase land and build new facilities, currently $200M per year). It would not. Second, I clarified that our fund balance from FY2008 was $17M. I then said:
Our fund balance this past year, the amount that we came in under budget this past year, for FY08, is greater than the anticipated revenue, if I'm reading this correctly, of this meals tax. And I don't hear any Supervisors talking about how since we've got a fund balance of $17 million that we're going to get to build more schools or they're going to raise their debt cap. I want to cooperate with the Board of Supervisors. Frankly their hands are tied by state legislation which fails to realize that the property tax system is about a hundred years old and needs to be scrapped. But I have no confidence that any of this money will put a single new brick in a Loudoun County Public School. I'll support this because the Supervisors have shown a little bit of movement towards being more supportive of, or at least more communicative with our Board. But I just want to make it clear that I think that this meals tax will not have any actual impact on the construction of Loudoun County Public Schools.My criticism is not of the meals tax itself, which is a tiny step in the right direction towards diversification of our tax base and relief from property tax burdens. It is a criticism of the Board of Supervisors, who I am confident will offset gains in the school construction budget from this meals tax with cuts from existing revenue sources, resulting in a benefit to Loudoun taxpayers but not to the education that their children receive.
I support the meals tax referendum. I voted for the School Board's endorsement of it and I will vote for it myself on November 4th.
You must be logged in to post a comment.