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School Board Tentatively Supports Meals Tax

By Alex Bahr

(Created: Wednesday, September 10, 2008 4:37 PM EDT)

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The LCPS School Board voiced their support for the proposed meal tax referendum that will appear on ballots during this November's election.

The board voted 8-1 Tuesday to endorse the measure, which will place a four-cent tax on food and beverages served in restaurants and prepared food sold in grocery stores. All revenues from the proposed tax would be used to fund the construction of new schools in the county and school construction debt service.

Joseph Guzman (Sugarland Run) was the only member to oppose the referendum, calling it "a substantial new tax on an already over-taxed county."

While towns such as Leesburg and Middleburg already have meal taxes, other high traffic areas such as Dulles and Sterling do not.

"We are losing out on some significant revenue down by Dulles every single day," said Jennifer Bergel (Catoctin), citing the business generated by the airport and shopping mall in those areas.

Thomas Reed (At Large) said he felt the referendum should be split, allowing residents to vote separately on taxing food and beverages served in restaurants and prepared food sold in grocery stores, but would support the measure "to cooperate with the board of supervisors."

Some members expressed concern about how the funds generated would actually be used and if the tax would actually benefit the school system.

Bob Onheiser (Broad Run) said he was worried that the county could use the money raised by the new tax to pay down debt on existing projects, while still turning down proposals for new ones.

Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick said that while the tax "would put a little extra money in our pockets, you're absolutely right, it doesn't require them to approve new projects."

Vice Chairmen John Stevens (Potomac), who voted in support of the measure, had little faith the tax would benefit the school system.

"I have no confidence that this measure will put a single new brick in a Loudoun County school," he said. "I just want to make it clear that I think this meals tax will not have any impact on Loudoun County Public Schools."

While the school board gave its tentative support to the idea of the meals tax, the Loudoun County Republican Commitee last week passed a resolution opposing the proposed referendum question. The committee cited the ever-increasing county budget and its promise to promote fiscal responsibility in all levels of government as reasons to oppose the proposal.

The resolution means that all sample ballots distributed by the LCRC Nov. 4 will recommend a no vote on the item. The LCRC also opposed the meals tax when it was on referendum in 1998. Voters in that election voted against the referendum question.

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The following are comments from the readers. In no way do they represent the view of Leesburg Today.
Total Comments: 5 comment(s)

Agent Smith wrote on Sep 16, 2008 9:08 PM:

" I have to agree with Paul Martin about the "lag" we are experiencing. Back when the county was adding 6,500 new houses a year, many of the buyers had young children or were planning to start a family. The county was collecting the tax dollars, but the children were not yet in public schools. It was a tax windfall. So what did our supervisors do? For one, they wrote the school board a blank check every year, which quickly sent per-student spending from $7,000 to $13,000 a year. Of course, the school board swore all that money was absolutely necessary!

Now those children are entering the school system and the county is down to adding just 2,500 new houses a year. The new tax revenue can't keep pace with the cost of all these new students. The only way to keep taxes from bankrupting homeowners is to cut per-student spending. If the board had been insightful and planned for the inevitable bust in the housing market, they would have used the tax windfall to pay down debt and we would not be in this predicament.

But the usual response, and the easiest thing for them to do, is to raise taxes during a down cycle. Let's not let that happen this time. A sound rejection of the meals tax is a good start! "

Bill Urpps wrote on Sep 14, 2008 5:17 PM:

" Whether you support a meals tax in Loudoun or not, this issue is totally INAPPROPRIATE for the School Board to spend any time and resources addressing! I personally do not support a meals tax proposal (particularly one that would tax prepared food like a grilled chicken in the grocery store), although I have no problem with asking the question of the public on a referendum ballot. If I want to address this issue, I will have that conversation with the Board of Supervisors, not the School Board! I am really disappointed that the School Board would spend valuable time addressing and voting on such an issue when they have many important issues that ARE in their purview,. And, as Mr. Ohneiser pointed out, there is no guarantee such funds would go to LCPS anyway. This is like the BOS publicly considering and voting on how they believe LCPS should formulate their Special Ed program, what textbooks should be selected etc. The BOS appropriates the money and the School Board uses it to efficiently operate the schools! Thats the way the system works and our Board members should already know that and squashed any such waste of time (Superintendent should have quietly reminded the Board members but it is their issue and they wasted valuable time). As the GOVT folks often say, Swim in your own lane! "

Bob Baker wrote on Sep 11, 2008 7:44 PM:

" "We are losing out on some significant revenue down by Dulles every single day," said Jennifer Bergel (Catoctin), citing the business generated by the airport and shopping mall in those areas.

It is this attitude that causes much of the problem. Get real. The only revenue the School Board Empire is entitled to is from taxes. So, to increase the revenue, lets just devise a new tax to put on the poor saps who happen to live in Loudoun. After all, they must have a few dollars left that the county can seize.

Don't the nincompoops on the BOS and School Board know the meaning of reducing expenditures, sensible fiscal management, such as elimination of unnecessary frills, reducing management and administrative overhead (especially King Hatrick's bloated salary) and other steps. Getting more revenue will simply cause spending to increase over any gains in revenue. "

The Virginian wrote on Sep 11, 2008 1:33 PM:

" The Loudoun County BOS and the Loudoun County School Board's greed is exceeded only by their chuzpa!

Throw the bums out of office now before they can do any more damage to Louodun County and its citizens. "

paul martin wrote on Sep 10, 2008 5:30 PM:

" Why should anyone vote to tax themselves? Rather than attempt to yet again draw more blood out of the taxpayer, the County and School Board need to get their fiscal act together. The government expects citizens to be fiscally responsible so that the government can remain irresponsible in a multitude of very poor past decisions.

I have written here and elsewhere for 19 years that all this costly reckless growth, while enriching to a few, was going to cost the taxpayers big time. I voiced concern about how we would deal with the inevitable "lag" when the bottom fell out of the economy (as it has) and still growth-related impacts hit the County.

The answer, it appears, is the classic governmental response of tax them even more. Take more of the people's money to paper over our screw-ups. If I were in charge I'd sit EVERY department head down, tell them to draw up a 85% budget based on the current fiscal year and then deal with it next year. Try to avoid RIFS with buy-outs, position eliminations, etc. and concentrate on core programs only. Oh, and no raises and colas for 1 year with a guaranteed cola of 2% in the following fiscal year.

If the majority of the people don't like this service level than by all means tax the heck out of them. Just wait a year or so so I can move away to a more sane place. If such a place exists anymore. "



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