Metro Special Tax District-Vote NO!

Why didn't they just continue up on Belmont Ridge Road then take a right onto Ashburn Farm Parkway, instead of cutting through? Just wondering....

 

Agreed - seems like they should try to keep the commercial property (Clydes, HCA) within the tax district.

 

This is not a scare tactic, it's the truth. Can you handle it?

http://travel.usatoday.com/news/sto...near-many-airports-train-stations-/49301270/1

http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/layer?topicId=1084571900

http://unsuckdcmetro.blogspot.com/

The worst part, is somebody keeps telling people that our homes will spike in value. I hope they are right, but the information out there indicates the opposite.

Wouldn't it be nice to see how it goes in Tysons? What happens to the mall? Realtors claim the value increase is already baked in...Steve?

 

I just read the Ashburn Today article. I guess the BoS is also talking about using this secial tax district for other road improvements unrelated to metro. Get ready to bend over, Broadlands, Loudoun Valley Estates and Ashburn Farm. The burden of our piss-poor road system is going to be placed squarely on our backs financially.

I am curious as to why, when the plans that have been approved for the undeveloped lot behind me are proposing to be changed, they are required to send me a letter to notify me of the public hearing. But when the Board of Supervisors is proposing to impose an additional tax on me, I get no formal notification. I know that most of my neighbors are unaware of this proposal...

I also wonder what the law is regarding the creation of a special tax district. I would hope there are guidelines and rules in place and that they cannot be arbitrarily imposed at the whim of the Board... Can they be fought in court?

 

Is this a new article? I love how we in the east are hosed with crappy roads or the only alternative is a 5 dollar toll but Leesburg and the west get a smooth ride.

Examples -
1) Overpasses along rt 7 - most of that traffic is going to Leesburg and west including friggin West Virginia.
2) The new overpass at Rt 15/Syclon - again helping those in the west.

WTH!

 

Perhaps both commercial property owners found out about this and lobbied heavily to get them exempted from the Special Tax District (STD).

 

If the Board wants to build/improve STATE roads and tries to put the cost on only SOME of the residents in the county, it should be challenged in court and the county would probably lose. But it would take someone to file the suit.

 

i'm confused- why should where you live in proximity to the metro matter? my family will likely NEVER or rarely use it- but a family 3 miles from it that uses it daily doesn't have to pay the tax??? can someone tell me why assessing a 5 cent tax per ticket at that station would NOT work?

i'm just an ignorant tax payer what don't unnerstan' that there taxin' stuff.... :signsplease:

 

Maybe I'll just pay the extra tax imposed then take the county to small claims court every year in an attempt to get it back.

 

Im less against the smoothing of that route and more against the fact that we can find monies to do this but its taking forever to get Nokes Blvs/Glouchester started/completed to help eliminating the bottleneck on Waxpool. The ENTIRE Ashburn area would benefit from this 1mile of road completion. Imagine the people going into Ashburn Village and Belmont Country Club areas no longer using Waxpool.

Also - my main point was many of the cars benefiting from that smoothing are NOT from the east.

 

Based on new reports & the County's Planning Commission: Kincora will start construction on Pacific (N/S), Glouchester, Russell Branch later this summer. The only hang up for this project is: Virginia Transportation Infrastructure Bank has yet to approve the Norton Scott's (they are the main contractor for Kincora) $80+M loan . It also appears that Glouchester Pkwy will contect to Pacific N/S and there is a proposed bridge to carry Glouchester over Broad Run. This project will also connect Russel Branch to Pacific which will ultimately terminate to Dulles Airport.

 

New Information:
This is a pre-release of white paper done as a service to Loudoun by two of the most prominent experts in the nation, and perhaps the world, Gabriel Roth and Randall O'Toole.


I encourage you to read the attached white paper and share it with others who may be interested in forming an opinion on the transportation future of Loudoun based on scholarly insights as opposed to pro-rail hype.


The paper will be published very soon by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. I am sharing it so that it can be viewed before the decision by the Loudoun Board is made.

Here is also a link to a commentary written by Blue Ridge Supervisor, Janet Clarke:
http://leesburg.patch.com/articles/clarke-outlines-metro-stance


I understand the pro-rail stance for many. But I'd like the pro-rail people to dig in and find another way to pay for this.

 

TeamDonzi -

I started to read the attachment and I got to the first 3 paragraphs and already found multiple flaws.

1) the current Loudoun Transit system is already over loaded. Case in point the Dulles North/South parking lots - which are typically at capacity by 7AM. Not to mention the actual bus(es), which are almost always filled. We stopped using LT because it cost $16 a day and the buses were standing room only. Which makes the 68+ minute commute to downtown - a pain (literally).

1a) This reports espouses buses are viable replacement for light rail. The writers do not offer any valid statistical data. And putting even more buses on the already congested main traffic routes (Rts 7, 28, Waxpool DTR/DGW) is not a viable solution. This will only add to the congestion. For me I would want to see the statistical data from VDOT on the actual decrease of current ridership along the routes I state above.

2) Tolls - it is a fact the DTR & DGW have and will continue to raise their tolls. I think in retrospect then Gov Kaine did a dis-service to Loudoun/Fairfax by giving complete control of the DTR & DGW to WMAA. For years both toll roads have increased their rates and WMAA should have put those funds into an escrow of metro slush fund. Either way the Commonwealth no longer has control of the toll road/rates...the Virginia State Corp Comm basically rubber stamps any proposed toll increase. The only way to fix this problem is to have the House of Delegates/State Senate propose new legislation to regulate future toll increases. Again VA should have demanded a 3rd party to oversee WMAA financial (mis) management of the revenues generated from the toll increases.

3) Participation in the "pact", point of order and fact is Loudoun is a partner in the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority as well as two other DCMA transportation groups. This is nothing new and again it would take an act of the BoS & General Assembly for Loudoun to exit this "pact". And be assured that if Loudoun does not maintain our status in these groups, the ability for the County to receive State/Federal funding for the other transportation infrastructure projects is none, zilch, nada.

In conclusion - any thing that comes from the David LaRock Opt-Out group I will discount to the point of "white noise"...buses can not and will never compete with Rail.

Let me ask you a hypothetical and rhetorical question: "IF" the County were able to fund Metro, without a special residential tax district and funds were found in the County's general fund - would support Metro?

 

Lilpea-Forwarded your observations to Mr. Roth.

 

I would support Metro IF:
The Feds contributed annually
The State pitched in too
MWAA and WMATA didn't have exclusive control over everything Metro and if they didn't use union labor
General Fund monies still cost us and pull $ from other services, but this kind of CW tax increase is more palatable than just us being taxed.
If anything, maybe they should have put the metro straight out Rt. 7, but that's a long gone proposition....BECAUSE those homes are too valuable and metro will hurt the value, especially in Great Falls. There's your rub.

 

I received this information secondhand regarding Supervisor Volpe. Cannot vouch for validity but I'd rather get it out there now before the vote.

"A special lobbyist, Roland Gunn of the Peterson group, has been hired to work on Suzanne. She's his only focus. The goal is to find a way for Suzanne to vote for metro, and yet save face. The pro-metro people have some deal they're trying to work out where they first vote metro in and then Suzanne leads the charge to pin the bills on the special tax districts around the subways. Matt, Ralph, and Shawn will then vote against the special tax districts, knowing that they will pass anyway. That way they can claim to their districts that they got metro passed, and worked hard against the special tax districts but they passed anyway. Suzanne can claim to her district that she voted for metro but then made sure that people in her district didn't have to pay for it."

I am neither Pro or Anti Metro. I am Anti Special Tax District. If all these people in Loudoun want the Metro then EVERYONE should pay for it... not a select few who will already be seeing increased property tax bills.

I believe Shawn Williams should take a stand prior to the vote. I know he is staunchly PRO Metro, but he should stand up for his constituents and say his vote will be NO to Metro unless it is agreed up front to NOT fund it with Residential Special Tax Districts!

 

I got that same information as well. I've talked to Ms. Volpe, and she has worked with Gunn, but said she didn't HIRE him. I think the clue there is in the word HIRE. Anyway, this is indeed their strategy. These 3 or 4 vote against and the rest vote For and we are hosed. Here is what our taxes will look like with the STD (ha) and the countywide increase which will eventually happen. This assumes a 5% value increase, STD and prop tax increase:
$735,000.00 $7,350.00 $9,334.50 $661.50 $9,996.00 5% value inc, metro tax, and 3.5 prop tax Yes, $1351 per year
VS. NOW:
Same house at 700K, tax is $8645, still a LOT!

 

Here is an article explaining why the FEDS pulled their $900MM contribution to the rail. I'm sure some reasons/issues/opportunities have changed since this was written, but we don't see a check yet. It must be in the mail...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/24/AR2008012401221_pf.html

 

The article you provided was literally a single snap-shot of one event in 2007 and the FTA vacillated on the commitment of federal funds multiple times in 2007 to April 2008, mainly because of the proposed Tunnel in Tysons.

Here is a wiki link that provides a complete history of events for the Silver line:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Line_%28Washington_Metro%29

But it should be pointed out, that on March 10, 2009 (the new and current) Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, signed and formally executed an agreement that awarded the previously promised $900M in Federal funding for this project. Unless I read it wrong it appears that Phase I of Silver line received substantial federal funding. Here is the March 2009 Wash Post article, which details the history.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/10/AR2009031000705_pf.html