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Opinion
Editorial
Published in Free Lance Star
October 7, 2009
Leadership, not higher taxes, needed here
Ten years ago, Stafford's 8- to 10-year olds played their first baseball tournaments. Today, poor planning means hundreds of kids have no fields to enjoy.
MANY politicians have promised to "cut the fat" out of the county budget, as if there were millions of dollars sitting in an account somewhere waiting to be cut. The truth is that there are opportunities within the budget to save money but it will require more than rhetoric and campaign slogans; it will require leadership.
A leader is someone who has the strength of character to make hard, even unpopular, decisions. He is grounded by principles that don't change based on the political winds of the day.
Any leader worth his salt understands the value of a dollar and is appalled by the idea of losing or finding $5 million of taxpayer money in our county bank account, as we have just experienced here in Stafford County. If the government truly needed that money, it would never have been mismanaged.
After reviewing past and current county budgets and interviewing constitutional officers and department directors, I am convinced that the question should not be how much money do you need to operate; it should be how do you operate?
Anyone who studies businesses or organizations knows that a financial crisis is an opportunity for innovation and cost savings. When revenue drops, business owners do not have the luxury of raiding fund balances or picking the pocket of taxpayers to bail themselves out. Though we can't run government like a business, we can introduce business principles into government.
Instead, even in the good times, Stafford's Board of Supervisors took the easy way out of budget problems by raising taxes as they did in 2002 and 2004. In 2005, to cover deficit spending, they even raided our rainy day fund by $5.2 million.
Sadly, the good times came to an end and Stafford County has little to show for it other than a bloated budget and a reserve fund so low it jeopardized the county bond rating. And in the meantime, demands for core services continue to grow.
Today we are living with the consequences of past waste and inefficiency, not solely due to an economic downturn. The Stafford Baseball League recently turned away more than 400 kids who wanted to play baseball because we don't have enough fields. Football and soccer leagues are also facing field shortages.
We are in this predicament because of a lack of vision and planning from past boards, who didn't make sure that developers provided needed infrastructure before they built massive neighborhoods. We face the same predicament with our roads.
Instead of grabbing more money from the taxpayers to fix our lack of planning, let's make it a priority to streamline how government operates.
The commissioner of revenue recently had his staff review an internal process regarding recordation of permits for taxation purposes. His staff was able to take what was once a 52-step process down to 24 steps, saving the county time and money, as well as providing a faster and more efficient service to the taxpayer. Why not engage this type of effort across the board to eliminate waste and free our resources for new and better purposes?
We should have a long-term vision for what we want our county to look like--and govern with policies that help facilitate people investing in their community. There are currently landowners who are willing to donate their land to build baseball fields. Have we made the process easier for them to do so?
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There are people willing to invest their own money for other projects that would enhance our overall quality of life. These worthy projects have been thwarted under the false pretense of preserving our land and controlling growth. Citizens are weary of the arguing and deserve common sense in their government.
We can improve our overall quality of life by strengthening our local economy through business-friendly policies. These policies will encourage businesses to invest in our county.
To this end, we can work toward establishing a science and technology center that includes a campus for graduate level degrees from a state university. By bringing new, clean, safe jobs to Stafford, the talent that already lives here can work here, which will allow more time to spend with our families.
Stafford County, along with the rest of the country, is facing tough financial times. But we can take this opportunity to change the way we operate and pull out of this downturn by putting forth new initiatives that will create long-term stability.
My vision for the county is to create an environment that produces jobs locally, improves transportation, and improves the quality of life for all of us. From creation of a science and tech center to making your government more efficient and responsive to the needs of the residents, I want to put forth a bold new agenda.
A fresh perspective and a little common sense will go a long way in ensuring that Stafford County is the best place to live, work, and raise a family.
Susan Stimpson is a candidate for the Falmouth seat on the Stafford Board of Supervisors.
Opinion
Editorial
Published in Free Lance Star
Tuesday March 24, 2009
The Stafford County Board of Supervisors has lost its vision. The
new majority believes the path out of a lack of planning is through
the Comprehensive Plan. Governing through ordinances rather than
through sound leadership and vision is a recipe for disaster, as we
have already seen. Some former supervisors have even admitted they
had no idea that encouraging residential development would create an
unsustainable tax burden, ["New Math: Housing Does not pay for
itself," 2/27/09].
It is equally troubling that the board has chosen to abdicate its
role by ceding authority and decision-making power to the Planning
Commission. None of these commissioners were elected by the people
so there is no accountability to the voters, no openness and no
transparency.
The Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) is their governing method of
today and some democrat leaders have even said this should be the
foundation that governs us for the next 20 years. While land-use is
an important part of managing our county, it doesn’t constitute a
vision and it should be coupled with aggressive competition for new
business development, sound tax policies and a tight grasp on fiscal
management of our budget. If not, the future doesn’t look very
bright for Stafford .
We all agree that we would like for growth to be managed wisely and
to pay for itself. Unfortunately, the proposed Comp Plan does just
the opposite by reducing the size of the Urban Services Area ( USA )
and ultimately pushing more growth into rural areas. The USA is the
section of a locality where there is supposed to be infrastructure
to sustain new growth. We have seen the damage wrought by previous
Boards that pushed growth into rural Stafford with a lack of
infrastructure and winding two-lane roads. Why would we repeat the
mistakes of the past?
In addition to pushing growth into our green spaces, the new Comp
Plan also contains zoning for approximately 12,000 new apartments.
We have a responsibility to provide affordable housing but allowing
1/3 of the new housing in Stafford to be apartments (which incur
additional demands for services such as schools, roads and fire and
rescue) is not smart growth and will almost certainly not pay for
itself.
Expanding the commercial tax base is wise and could go a long way
toward balancing the real estate tax burden. Unfortunately this
board has adopted new discriminatory business tax policies that
nearly guarantee the opposite—a migration of businesses—and a
disincentive for businesses to come here. By implementing B.P.O.L
[Business Professional Occupational License] this board has halted
our trajectory as one of the top business growth counties in the
nation. Under the leadership of Chairman George Schwartz and with
the help of the very people who created the proposed Comp Plan,
Stafford County has adopted an overall irresponsible and
counterproductive anti-business posture. We've even canceled our
membership to the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The approach of the current board to use zoning as a way to govern
also comes at a cost for property owners. Anti-property rights
ordinances such as “Potomac Overlay” well exceed state and federal
regulations, and Stafford residents who have owned land for
generations now see the value of their land plummeting and rendered
useless. Since these new rules don’t apply to vested properties,
which are the ones owned by the big developers, these measures just
hurt the little guy.
In fact, Stafford now has an unprecedented 50 lawsuits pending
against the county, directly due to the actions of the board.
Chairman Schwartz stated, “The more lawsuits there are, the better
job I’m doing.” We need leadership not lawsuits. How can the county
afford to pay for these lawsuits when we are already facing millions
of dollars in budget shortfalls? Wouldn’t this money be better spent
on schools or for our teachers who didn’t receive a pay raise this
year? Surely we can do better than this.
We will not prosper by raising taxes and growing government. We need
innovation. Our neighbors in Spotsylvania are seeking to start a
Science and Technology Center . The infrastructure and talent is
already here in Stafford , we just need leadership to make it
happen. This would allow our men and women to work in their hometown
instead of D.C., and also have more time for family and community.
It would broaden our tax base and provide more money for schools,
and could also be a way to help alleviate the transportation problem
because it takes cars off the highways. Our Technology Center can
incorporate businesses that provide free-market “green” technology
to our area. Stafford has a real opportunity to be a leading force
in clean and sustainable communities.
Our future does not lie in policy and in erecting barriers. Our
future lies in breaking down barriers and being leaders. Limiting
growth, refocusing new development toward the Urban Services Area,
repealing discriminatory business taxes on small businesses, having
a top-to-bottom review of all government departments, and pursuing
an innovative and cutting edge technology center are just a few ways
we can approach having a dynamic economy and community. With this
vision we can ensure that Stafford County remains one of the best
places to live, work and raise a family.
Susan Stimpson
Chairman, Stafford County Republican Committee
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