Voters in Loudoun County, Virginia, will be voting on five ballot issues this year. One is a Virginia statewide ballot issue with a proposed amendment to the state constitution. Four are Loudoun County bond referendums.
Virginia Statewide Ballot Issue
Article XII, Section 1, of the Constitution of Virginia establishes a process for amending the commonwealth’s constitution.
The state Senate or House of Delegates proposes amendments and, after having been passed through both houses, they are presented to the voters as a referendum. If approved, the state constitution is modified, and the change can only be reversed by another amendment.
Citizens of Virginia will be voting on one such amendment this year.
Question 1: Property Tax Exemption
The General Assembly cannot exempt properties from local property taxes unless provisions for such an exemption are added to the Constitution of Virginia. Eight exemption authorities have been presented to the voters since Off on a Tangent started making political endorsements in 2004. They all passed.
In 2014, the voters gave the legislature an authority to exempt “the real property of the surviving spouse of any member of the armed forces of the United States who was killed in action as determined by the United States Department of Defense” from local property taxes. Off on a Tangent endorsed a “yes” vote on that amendment, which passed with more than 87% of the vote.
This year, the General Assembly has proposed amending that exemption by changing the words, “who was killed in action as determined by,” to read, “died in the line of duty with a Line of Duty determination from. . . .” The effect of this change would be to expand the exemption authority to the property of the surviving spouse of any member of the armed forces who died in the line of duty, regardless of whether they were killed in action (i.e., due to hostilities).
It’s absurd to amend our state constitution every time we want to tweak the list of permissible property tax exemptions. The General Assembly should pass a one-time amendment to change Article X, Section 6, to remove the list of permissible exemptions and the unnecessary limits on what exemptions the legislature can adopt. Property tax exemptions should be normal laws. They should go through the same legislative process that all the other tax laws go through.
Regardless, the proposed change is fine. Vote YES on the Virginia property tax amendment.
Loudoun County Bond Referendums
Article VII, Section 10, of the Constitution of Virginia requires local governments to obtain voter approval to issue bonds. Voters in Loudoun County, Virginia, will be asked to consider four bond referendums on this year’s ballot.
Bonds are debt—they are, essentially, a loan from those who purchase them. Like any other loan, the money must be repaid over time with interest.
Debt should be used to finance public projects only when they cannot be funded from the “money in the bank.” You don’t take out a $30,000 loan to buy a car when you have $100,000 in your checking account.
School Projects
Voters in Loudoun County, Virginia, will be asked in a referendum to authorize the county to issue up to $10,000,000 in general obligation bonds for school projects. These funds would be used for “facility renewals and alterations” and the costs of “other public school facilities as requested by the Loudoun County School Board.”
For the 2025 fiscal year, Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) expects to spend a mind-boggling $2,759,438,763 . . . that’s $2.8 billion, which is a 25% increase from the previous year. This increase is especially egregious and inexplicable when the projected change in enrollment is so small it rounds to zero. LCPS expects to have 23 fewer students in 2025 than the 83,061 they planned for in 2024. That’s a -0.0277% change.
Loudoun county will be writing a check for $1,468,524,949 to the schools in the 2025 fiscal year, which is about 61% of the county’s total budget. That means we’re spending more local money on schools than on fire and rescue, the sheriff’s office, parks and recreation, mental health and substance abuse services, information technology, family services, building inspection, libraries, community development, public health, county administration, planning and zoning, budgeting and revenue, debt repayment, human resources, transportation, the courts, the commonwealth’s attorney, economic development, animal services, corrections, legal expenses, mapping, and elections . . . combined.
But that’s just not enough. There’s another $539 million coming from the Commonwealth of Virginia, $50 million from the federal government, and $43 million in “other” revenue.
LCPS claims its 2025 cost-per-pupil will be $21,793, but that figure artificially excludes some of the system’s expenses. We have the information we need to correct their math . . . it’s in their own budget documents. LCPS plans to spend $2,759,438,763 with a projected enrollment of 83,038 students. That gives us a true cost-per-pupil of $33,231—more than 50% higher than advertised. I figured this out using a complex mathematical operation called “division.” Maybe the LCPS budget office can bring in some sixth graders to teach them how to do it next year.
Our schools are in shambles, and our new school board and superintendent have—so far—done little to turn them around. Until they start making real, positive reforms, and start accounting for where their billions of dollars are going and why, they cannot be trusted with even one cent of new debt, let alone $10 million.
Vote NO on the School Projects bond referendum.
Public Safety Projects
Voters in Loudoun County, Virginia, will be asked in a referendum to authorize the county to issue up to $9,669,000 in general obligation bonds for public safety projects. These funds would be used to purchase fire and rescue apparatus, to replace the Philomont fire station, and to fund “other public safety projects approved in the County’s Capital Improvement Program.”
In the last two elections, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors combined public safety projects with parks and recreation projects on a single referendum. This was likely a deceptive effort to fund projects that don’t justify large debts by linking them with projects that do. They have wisely reversed course; this year we have two “clean” referendums to consider.
Like I said last year, public safety referendums deserve careful consideration. Loudoun is a growing county. It would be difficult to build the necessary public safety infrastructure to support that growth without incurring some public debt. Even so, we are a wealthy county with lots of money. We should not use debt to fund the routine costs of providing government services.
The county is going to give our dysfunctional, unaccountable schools a pay-out of $1,468,524,949 from the general fund in the 2025 fiscal year. The entire cost of this referendum could have been funded by a 0.66% reduction in that appropriation. Would LCPS even notice? Why on earth do we need a loan for this?
Vote NO on the Public Safety Projects bond referendum.
Parks and Recreation Projects
Voters in Loudoun County, Virginia, will be asked in a referendum to authorize the county to issue up to $53,787,000 in general obligation bonds for parks and recreation projects. These funds would be used to design and build the Western Loudoun Recreation Complex, Dulles South Community Park, and Westpark Improvements, and to fund “other public parks, recreational[,] and community center projects approved in the County’s Capital Improvement Program”
The costs of maintaining and expanding parks and recreational facilities in Loudoun County should be paid out of the general fund, not with debt. There is more than enough money available. The entire cost of this referendum could be funded by a 3.66% reduction in the pile of county taxpayer money we’re dumping into unaccountable, over-funded schools.
Vote NO on the Parks and Recreation Projects bond referendum.
Transportation Projects
Voters in Loudoun County, Virginia, will be asked in a referendum to authorize the county to issue up to $151,165,000 in general obligation bonds for transportation projects. These funds would be used to rebuild the intersection of Evergreen Mills Road, Reservoir Road, and Watson Road; build new sections of Crosstrail Boulevard and Dulles West Boulevard; build a roundabout at Braddock Road and Trailhead Drive, widen sections of Braddock Road, Northstar Boulevard, Route 15, Ryan Road, and Sycolin Road; improve Lake Drive and the interchange between route 7 and route 287; and to fund “other public road and transportation projects approved in the County’s Capital Improvement Program”
Transportation projects in Virginia are supposed to be managed and funded by the state, but the General Assembly and Virginia Department of Transportation habitually redirect transportation funds out of northern Virginia—where most of the money is coming from—to less urgent rural projects. Local voters approved a special regional sales tax that funds transportation projects through the Northern Virginia Tax Authority (NVTA), and localities can add their own funding.
Loudoun County expects to bring in $2,429,705,425.00—that’s $2.43 billion—in local tax revenue for the 2025 fiscal year. Only 1.2% of those funds are allocated to transportation. If we combined the existing allocation with the amount being requested in this referendum, it would account for only 7.5% of the county budget. We pay more than that—about 9.6%—on debt repayment. If we reduced local funding for schools by 10.3%, bringing those expenditures back in line with where they were just a few short years ago (even after adjusting for changes in enrollment and inflation), we could pay for these projects from cash-on-hand in the general fund.
Citizens of Loudoun County are paying numerous taxes and fees for transportation. There are sales taxes on cars, taxes on gasoline, the annual car tax (thanks, Jim Gilmore!), registration fees, safety and emissions inspection fees, drivers’ license fees, fees on fluids and batteries, and more . . . not to mention revenue from extortion toll roads and enforcement of artificially-low speed limits.
I said it last year, and I’ll say it again: “You guys have enough money. Build the damn roads.”
Vote NO on the Transportation Projects bond referendum.