Our all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors vowed back when they took office in January that they would
• reduce school costs
• lower property taxes
• expand the commercial tax base
It just so happens they will have a chance to do all three! Pending before the Board are 8 rezoning applications from developers suddenly eager to convert commercial zoned property to residential.
The applications — which encompass 1,100 acres of property in the Dulles, Algonkian, Broad Run, and Catoctin districts — would add 10,401 new residential units. Using the standard facilities cost formula the county employs, those new houses would add an extra 3,380 pupils to the school system for a whopping $281,235,012 in new capital facilities costs (i.e., building new schools).
In addition, with Loudoun’s current (lowest in the region) $11,014 per pupil annual instructional cost, these rezonings if approved would add $37,227,320 to the annual school budget.
So how about it? A simple, easy test of whether the Board actually has any intention of doing what they said to the suckers who voted for them that they would do, versus what they usually in fact do — which is to give the developers (who gave them a cool $500,000 in campaign contributions) whatever they ask for.
realloudoun 