Sean Connaughton, chairman of the Prince William County board of supervisors and a rising light in the state Republican Party, has been nominated by the Bush administration to run the U.S. Maritime administration — a position that he is almost certain to accept. Although Connaughton lost the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor last year, he has established a track record as one of the most effective local government leaders in Virginia. As the Washington Post recapitulates:
When he became a supervisor, the county had 280,000 people, an annual budget of about $400 million and one of the highest tax rates in the region.
He leaves an increasingly diverse county of about 364,000 people, a budget of $857 million and Northern Virginia’s lowest tax rate, which he and his board colleagues accomplished by cutting the tax rate as property values soared. The county also earned a AAA bond rating during Connaughton’s tenure, a gold star for local governments.
Developers are now paying more in proffers, voluntary funds used to offset the costs of schools, roads and other public services. Rather than wait for state transportation money to trickle down, the county used its money to build hundreds of miles of roads. And Prince William recently became one of a handful of municipalities in the state to propose creating a transportation department.
Frankly, I don’t know Prince William County well enough to judge Connaughton’s accomplishments. Prince William County stood in the path of growth, and there was no way that anyone could have tamed it. One can’t help but admire Connaughton for taking a proactive approach, raising local money for roads rather than whining that the state wasn’t doing enough. But is the county using those funds wisely? Is it coordinating its transportation projects with its zoning policies to create more balanced, better connected communities? Or is the county just playing catch-up with developers who convert vast tracts of farm- and woodland into a dysfunctional mess?
The abominable development taking place around the Gainesville interchange does not bode well for Connaughton’s legacy, although responsibility for that disaster cannot be fairly ascribed to any one individual. Tax rates in Prince William are low, that is clearly a bonus. But how well does the county work? Does it have a sense of community, a sense of place? Does it inspire loyalty — “I live in Prince William, and I love it!” — or is it a collection of stepping-stone subdivisions where people reside until they find somewhere else they like better?
Readers, please weigh in.
