Prince William County cannot afford to build the roads that voters approved in a $300 million bond referendum because declining real estate values have clobbered the county’s borrowing capacity, reports Dan Genz with Examiner.com. “The public clearly wants these roads, and we don’t have a way to pay for them,” laments County Vice Chairman Martin Nohe said. “It worries me greatly.”
The county has scrapped improvements along Prince William Parkway and Route 28, as well as the next package of road-building proposals scheduled for 2010, which included the widening of Rt. 1.
The problem is that debt capacity is linked to revenue. County officials anticipated declines in property values of two percent and four percent for this fiscal year and next. Instead, property values tumbled 4.7 percent and 14 percent, producing a $51 million deficit next year. Revenues from the recordation tax and the sales tax also have declined, Genz writes.
County officials may be misrepresenting the situation somewhat (either that, or Genz is mis-reporting the situation). If I understand municipal bond financing correctly, Prince William could borrow more money — but its bonds would be downgraded from its current AAA rating. Presumably, PWC doesn’t want to start down the slippery slope of excessive debt and deteriorating bond quality — a commendable sentiment — but that’s not the same as saying it can’t borrow more.
The larger and more important lesson is this: PWC is bumping into the limits of what local governments can do to build their way out of congestion. The PWC board of supervisors is dedicated to preserving current inefficient human settlement patterns (scattered, low-density, disconnected), but it’s running out of options. At some point, supervisors will have to contemplate the horrors of higher densities, more contiguous development, more mixed uses, more pedestrian/bicycle friendly streetscapes and, horror of horrors, mass transit.
Of course, that’s pretty much what Sharon Pandak called for in her unsuccessful run against Corey Stewart for BOS chair, and the voters chose Stewart. The citizens of PWC appear to be in no mood to deal with reality. It’s easier to blame the VDOT, the state, the illegal immigrants — anyone else.
