Squeezing Blood From Arlington Taxpayers
You occasionally hear Arlington’s elected poohbahs praising the generosity of county taxpayers, e.g., during budget season just before the County Board raises real estate tax rates or right after voters approve another set of bond referenda. And even though the taxes paid by Arlington taxpayers are more than sufficient, the County Board knows they can always squeeze more money out of Arlington taxpayers by putting bond referenda on the November ballot.
Now we learn that Arlington’s municipal debt is among the highest of Virginia localities, according to an item in the weekly "Polittical Notes” column in the December 9, 2010 Arlington Sun Gazette. The newspaper reported:
“Arlington is one of just eight of Virginia’s 134 cities and counties with a municipal debt of more than $1 billion, according to new state figures. On a per-capita basis, Arlington’s debt is relatively high, but far from the largest in the commonwealth.
“The county government’s total indebtedness at the end of the 2009 fiscal year was $1.139 billion, according to figures reported by the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts. That was enough to rank sixth among counties and cities in Virginia.
“The commonwealth’s most populous jurisdiction, Fairfax County, had the largest total debt, at $3.262 billion. It was followed by Loudoun County ($1.322 billion), Norfolk ($1.27 billion), Richmond ($1.249 billion), Virginia Beach ($1.236 billion), Arlington, Prince William County ($1.089 billion) and Newport News ($1.027 billion).
“Among those eight jurisdictions, Arlington ranked fourth in per-capita debt, based on Census Bureau population estimates. The figures include all forms of debt, from bonds to loans from the state Library Fund to short-term indebtedness. (emphasis added)
“Richmond led the pack with a debt level of $6,471 per resident, followed by Newport News ($5,770), Norfolk ($5,546), Arlington ($5,240), Loudoun ($4,392), Fairfax County ($3,262), Prince William County ($2,873) and Virginia Beach ($2,835).
“Among other nearby jurisdictions, Alexandria had a total municipal indebtedness of $447.9 million and a per-capita total of $3,269, while Falls Church had $60.15 million in debt, working out to $5,370 per resident.”
Another vanity project, another bond referenda on the ballot. The political life of Arlington.