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PROTECT TAXPAYERS

The tax bill for homeowners has exploded in recent years, driven by massive increases in spending. We can't afford four more years of the same. I will protect taxpayers by making developers pay their fair share, and by making good use of your tax dollars.

Stafford County Average Homeowner Tax Bill, 1999-2007

The Cavalier Record. 

·        Since the current Griffis-Widewater Supervisor took office:

o       the average tax bill for homeowners has increased 66%

o       on average, homeowners now pay nearly $1,000 more per year in property taxes

·        Along the way, Jack Cavalier advocated and voted for even higher tax increases.

·        In part, these tax increases have paid for ballooning County services and pet projects.

The Woodson Alternative. 

ü Developers pay their fair share, protecting taxpayers from shouldering the burden of growth and development.  

ü Tax revenue is directed to priority projects, not pet projects.

The Details 

In the last eight years, since the current Griffis-Widewater Supervisor took office, the average tax bill for homeowners has increased 66%.
Countywide, homeowners on average now pay nearly $1,000 more per year in property taxes than they did eight years ago. The tax bill increases have been higher in some neighborhoods than others.[1]

Find out the tax bill increase in your neighborhood....

If the current Griffis-Widewater Supervisor had his way, our property taxes would have been even higher!

Jack Cavalier has always led the charge for higher property taxes. For example:

·        In 2002 he voted against tax rates of $1.10 and $1.14 and voted for a higher tax rate of $1.16 per hundred dollars of assessed value.[2]

·        In 2004, he voted against a tax rate of 97 cents and voted for a higher a tax rate of $1.04.[3]

·        In 2006, as Chair of the Board, he led the vote for an 11% property tax increase[4], one of the largest single year increases ever!

In part, those increases in property taxes paid for more services, more expensive services, and pet projects.  

Stafford County per Person Spending, 1999-2006

Since Jack Cavalier took office:

·        County spending increased 170%,  from $106 million in 1999 to $285 million in 2006[5].

·        The increase in spending was not due just to more people. Per person spending increased 112% during the same period, from $1,122 per person in 1999 to $2,381 per person in 2006[6].   

·        He supported a $285 million bond package that would have raised property taxes to pay for, among other things, a $35 million indoor pool and a $7 million gymnastics center.[7]  Voters rejected the proposal.

·        He voted to give a private organization, the YMCA, an annual subsidy of $218,000 in taxpayer dollars for 20 years—for a total payment of $4.4 million[8], so that the YMCA could construct an indoor pool. He voted for this even though the YMCA reported earning $10 million a year in profit and fund balances of $16 million,[9] and the Board had already subsidized the YMCA construction by leasing land to it for $1 per year for 99 years.[10]  The “Y” is a valuable community asset, but taxpayers should not be bankrolling a private organization.

The County is living beyond its means. Year after year, the developer majority on the Board of Supervisors votes to spend more than the County receives in revenue, thus increasing the County’s debt load every year.

·        County debt doubled, from $155 million in 1999 to $337 million in 2006.[11]

·        Debt service increased from $14 million a year in 1999 to $28 million a year in 2006. In 1999, the principal and interest on debt was $150 per person. By 2006, it increased to $236 per person.[12] 

·        The County’s financial consultant has warned the Board that its reliance on property taxes and debt could lead to a possible downgrading of the County’s bond rating.[13]

The Woodson Alternative 

It’s time for developers to pay their fair share so that homeowners pay a smaller share.

Control property taxes by doing the following:

ü  Update the base amount of developer proffers on an annual basis using actual capital expenditures, to ensure that proffers reflect the true costs of development;

ü  Create staff positions to analyze the financial, traffic and school impacts of development projects, instead of allowing developers to do this;

ü  Restructure our fee and tax system so that developers and big business pay their fair share;

ü  Vote against allowing developers to subtract from proffers cash spent on amenities and traffic improvements that primarily serve the new development;

ü  Practice fiscal accountability and eliminating pork projects from the budget; and

ü  Manage growth to manage County expenditures.