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“Clearly,
they are making broad policy decisions out of the
light of day. It is completely inappropriate”
– Charles W. Hall (D), primary challenger to
Supervisor Linda Smyth (D), Fairfax County Board
of Supervisors, Providence District.
The
debate over extending the Metrorail service to
Dulles Airport has been raging for several years
now. Constituencies for the project and against it
have emerged, websites erected, e-mail lists and
dozens of newspaper articles have been written.
But the public remains largely in the dark.
Much
of the conversation
is taking place outside the publics’ earshot.
For example, the Fairfax County Board of
Supervisors has been discussing the project behind
closed doors -- possibly in direct violation of
the state’s open meeting laws.
The
same Board of Supervisors has been on record
complaining about the lack of transparency in the
state negotiations. Clearly, in the board’s view
what’s good for the goose is not good for the
gander.
In
recent months, Supervisor Dana Kauffman, D–Lee
District, has questioned the final price tag of
the project. More importantly, Kauffman has also
questioned the State’s unilateral contract award
for the first 11.6-mile phase of the project.
The
award to Dulles Transit Partners (a consortium of
companies, including the mammoth Bechtel
Corporation) also was negotiated behind closed
doors. The award was not derived through a
competitive bidding process, which is common for
large government procurements and construction
projects.
While
the Fairfax Country Board of Supervisors was
holding closed meetings, the DC
Examiner reported that the first half of the
Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project could cost $2.64
billion. In the past, the projections had ranged
from $2.4 to $2.7 billion.
The
$2.64 billion figure appears in materials prepared
by Fairfax County staff. This is the first time a
firm figure has been proposed for the project’s
wildly varying price tag.
To
qualify for partial federal funding the project
must meet the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA)
strict cost-benefit threshold, which determines
whether the Agency can fund the project. The
Fairfax County staff estimates the threshold to be
less than $2.5 billion, while the FTA maintains
that the number has yet to be determined.
In
response, the project partners (both private and
public) have apparently been scheming to “pull
out” about a quarter of a million of the
anticipated construction costs from the project,
in order to make it more palatable to the FTA and
its cost-benefit formula.
The
eliminated improvements are not being phased out
of the project, however. On the contrary,
government officials hope to fund these through
state and local dollars. “The scope of the
project hasn’t changed,” said the projects
spokeswoman, Martha MacAllister. “Nothing is
coming out.”
This
is another game of smoke and mirrors, designed to
appease the FTA. It is simply a case of robbing
Peter to pay Paul, since the taxpayers — whether
at the federal, state or local level — are
ultimately going to foot the entire bill.
The
ultimate price tag for this project is critical to
all Fairfax Country property owners. That is
because Fairfax County Executive Anthony H. Giffin,
in a letter to the Secretary of Transportation
Pierce Homer dated Nov. 1, 2005, guaranteed the
State that the county would pick up the slack for
cost overruns. The letter states:
Fairfax
County has also committed to fund its share of
increases to the estimated project costs that
may arise during final design, negotiation of a
Full Funding Grant Agreement with the Federal
Transit Administration or due to other
circumstances. We intend to either use a
“pay-as-you-go” approach using general
revenue or through bonding approval through a
referendum.
The
reference to “pay-as-you-go” should send
chills down the spines of every homeowner in
Fairfax County. That is because the County’s
major source of funding is based on real estate
property taxes, meaning that the County would have
to raise the real estate tax rate to make up any
funding shortfalls.
Since
2000, real estate taxes have increased three times
faster than inflation in Fairfax County. According
to the Fairfax County
Taxpayers Alliance, the typical homeowner in
Fairfax County will pay a real estate tax of
$4,830 this year. However, had tax increases been
held to the rate of inflation for the past seven
years, the typical homeowner would be paying
$3,079.
If
the cost overruns for the Rail-to-Dulles project
are passed on to Fairfax County taxpayers,
homeowners can expect significant increases to
their real estate tax bills.
Most
polls have shown that the public generally favors
the extension of rail to Dulles. The same polls
also show that the majorities that favor this
project also do not plan on using the Metro
extension. These polls, however, never ask the
next logical question, "Would you still favor
the project if you had to personally pay for it
through additional taxes or tolls?"
Instead
of holding closed door meetings, Fairfax County
Supervisors should be leveling with local
taxpayers and warning them that their reported
support for extending Metro will leave them
footing the bill.
--
April 30, 2007
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