[EyesOnIvy] Population Rise Stirs Interest in Taxes to Ease Strains

[Brian Wheeler]

This article from yesterday's Washington Post may be of interest for those
of you planning to attend this week's Ivy Town Meeting at Meriwether Lewis
Elementary.  What does population growth mean for Albemarle and Ivy?  Come
and ask our panel of experts this Thursday, November 18, 7pm-8:30pm.

AN OPPORTUNITY TO DISCUSS LOCAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT with:

Sally Thomas, Albemarle County Supervisor (Samuel Miller)
Marcia Joseph, Albemarle County Planning Commissioner (At-Large)
Jeff Werner, Piedmont Environmental Council

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Population Rise Stirs Interest in Taxes to Ease Strains
By Michelle Boorstein 
The Washington Post
Sunday, November 14, 2004 
 
 
  If every parcel of land in Spotsylvania -- now the country's 19th
fastest-growing county -- is built out under current water and sewer
capacity, the population will more than triple. With a 4 percent annual
growth rate and land values steadily climbing, officials say that scenario
is likely.
 
 The pressure of expansion, some officials say, explains the results of a
new poll concluding that residents of this very Republican county are
willing to have their taxes raised -- a concept typically treated like a
deadly disease by local politicians during campaign time -- to improve
public services strained by growth. 
 
 The poll, conducted by a county watchdog group called the Committee of 500,
found that the majority of voters questioned on Election Day at the polls
were open to tax increases to improve roads and bring commuter rail to
Spotsylvania, about 60 miles south of Washington on the I-95 corridor.
Thirty-six percent of voters said they would support tax increases to fund
full-time ambulance service. Today, about two-thirds of the semi-rural
county is served by volunteers, and two-thirds of stations aren't staffed at
night or on weekends.
 
 "I suspect there is a whole host of things people would support," Board of
Supervisors Chairman Robert Hagan, R-Courtland, said of possible tax
increases.
 
 Managing a growth rate that climbed to 6 percent and higher through the
1990s was the focus of the last county election, in which two longtime
supervisors were jettisoned for their pro-growth positions.
 
  Evidence of the emotion behind the topic was on display this week in the
supervisors' chamber, where residents cried and gave a standing ovation
after the board approved a development that not only will bring hundreds of
senior citizens to the county but also will set aside green space and
preserve part of a Civil War battlefield. The original proposal for the
site, a 2,000-home "town" with more than 1 million square feet of commercial
space, was rejected last year after a public outcry over traffic and the
trampling of history.
 
 In the past two years, however, the growth rate has declined, in part
because of a 2002 board measure that reduced the total number of units that
could be built in the county by 40 percent. Officials are proud of having
cut the growth rate to its current 3.9 percent, and their goal is 2 percent,
"which is tough when you have in the hopper thousands and thousands of
lots," county planning director Ric Goss said.
 
 Goss said models show that Spotsylvania will have about 200,000 residents
if existing lots are built out under their current zoning, and 350,000 if
the county is built out under current water and sewer capacity -- an
important predictor, he said. Today, the population is about 108,000. 
 
 The population surge has strained county services, particularly in
transportation. "Traffic, traffic and traffic," Hagan said when asked about
his constituents' main concerns. 
 
  Mindful of the importance county residents place on mobility, the
Committee of 500 surveyed voters at the polls this month, asking whether
they thought the county should join the Virginia Railway Express  commuter
rail system. 
 
 Doing so would require a 2 percent gas tax to pay for the county's
participation. VRE officials estimate that the county's regular contribution
to the regional system would be about $550,000. The tax would bring in about
$2.5 million annually, Hagan said, and the extra money would go toward road
improvements.
 
 Fifty-seven percent of the 1,840 people who responded supported the gas
tax, while 42 percent said they did not. Asked whether they would support a
2 cent increase in "county taxes" to support a road improvement fund, 53
percent said yes, 35 percent said no, and 12 percent said they would support
a 5 cent tax increase for roads.
 
 While 36 percent of respondents said they would increase taxes for
round-the-clock ambulance service "that meets national and state standards
for response times," 37.6 percent said they would prefer to charge user fees
for increased service, something also under consideration in Montgomery
County. 
 
 Many municipalities charge fees, which supporters note is often covered by
patients' health insurance. The Spotsylvania poll noted that fees would be
waived for people who couldn't afford them, but opponents have suggested
that patients might not understand the fee structure and decide against
calling an ambulance when they need one.
 
 Spotsylvania Fire Chief R. Christian Eudailey said the push for more
services is being fueled by new residents and new citizens groups such as
the Committee of 500, which was created last year and has "more than 100
members," though it aims for at least 500, according to member Larry Gross.
 
  "We have a lot of people who are moving here from Northern Virginia or
other places where they are used to having that full-time coverage,"
Eudailey said. "People move here and assume the same coverage exists without
checking."
 
 Merl Witt, the committee's chairman, said the poll didn't ask respondents
how long they have lived here. "From a scientific standpoint, I don't know,"
he said. "But from talking to people, I think newcomers aren't as concerned
about the tax rate as people who have lived here all their lives."
 
 Having accepted the likelihood that Spotsylvania eventually will have
350,000 residents, the supervisors are trying to make deliberate decisions
about the pace and place of development. 
 
 "I start with the proposition that I ain't approving nothing unless it's so
good that people would run me out of office if I didn't do it," Supervisor
Gary Jackson said. "It better be delicious. And I don't think I'm unique on
the board."
 
 The board is also considering what to do about the future uses of rural
land that is exempt from many standard requirements, such as the creation of
public roads. This exemption was aimed at helping small farmers and families
who wished to subdivide their property for their children. But Hagan said
that of 900 sites subdivided in the last two years, only five were for
families.
 
 "That could seriously influence the numbers" of housing units and new
residents, he said.
 
 On Wednesday, two proposals to amend the exemption are scheduled to come
before the Planning Commission. 

C 2004 The Washington Post Company