The Fluvanna Taxpayers Association has urged the Board of Supervisors to ensure that all costs and revenues affecting taxpayers be included in a water line return-on-investment study commissioned by the board on Dec. 21. FTA also recommended taxpayer fiscal impact criteria for inclusion in the analysis.

Aqua Virginia and county representatives have been negotiating a contract in which Aqua would run a line from the Rivanna River to Zion Crossroads to serve hoped-for businesses. Some supervisors have indicated that taxpayer money may be necessary to ensure that revenue targets are met. The board commissioned the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission to do the fiscal impact study, to be completed in six weeks.

If taxpayers must subsidize a proposed water line to benefit businesses at Zion Crossroads and to assure revenues for a private utility, then taxpayers’ return on investment should be at the heart of any fiscal analysis, maintains FTA. Since the rationale for the pipeline is economic development at Zion Crossroads, FTA said the study should show what it’s going to take for that investment to be a good deal for taxpayers and do three things:

•  Pay taxpayers back for any infrastructure taxpayers have to subsidize, initially and in the future.
•  Generate enough revenue to offset all costs of county services for new rooftops and businesses brought by economic development and the pipeline.
•  Deliver what county leaders have promised taxpayers from pipeline-fueled economic development – residential tax relief.

“For two years, FTA has pushed for a return-on-investment study of any water line involving taxpayer money,” says FTA Co-Chair Elizabeth Franklin. “So we thank supervisors for taking this step. But will the study look at the full fiscal impact of the pipeline from a taxpayer perspective? That’s the question. If taxpayers’ money is at stake, then the study should count all the costs and revenues that will confront taxpayers if the pipeline is built.”

FTA cites an Economic Development Commission report adopted by the Board of Supervisors stating that the average new residential unit costs the county more than $2.80 for every dollar it pays in taxes.  “Our concern is that the study may take a narrow view and concentrate on potential revenues to be derived from development without fully examining costs,” says Franklin. “We expect research to show that businesses clustered near a pipeline will produce revenues from property taxes, sales tax sharing and other taxes and fees. We simply want to ensure that pipeline-driven costs—like new rooftops, associated county services and the kind of high-density, urban-style development envisioned at Zion that tends to make taxes go up—will be similarly factored into the study.

Omitting such consequential criteria could render the analysis incomplete and useless in evaluating the full fiscal impact of the pipeline on taxpayers.”Adds FTA Co-Chair Jerry Patchen: “The idea of ‘letting business do it’ has appeal. But there are minefields in private monopolies. Certainly, the people of Lake Monticello have discovered that’s true in the years since they sold their water/sewer system to Aqua and have watched their rates skyrocket. Without proper protections, putting public services and assets in private hands can result in lost accountability and transparency, increased taxpayer costs and degraded quality. Full consideration of these potential impacts is essential for this board to protect the public interest.“

The Fluvanna Taxpayers Association is a nonpartisan organization focused on the impact of county policies and decisions on citizens’ tax bills.