by The Sheriff of Nottingham
The Sheriff of Nottingham in Prince William County

Chairman Stewart: Building Roads Will Never Be Cheaper!

Living so close to the Nation’s Capital it is very hard to ignore the chants of gloom and doom that are emanating from all corners of the political spectrum: America is headed for a fiscal cliff that could hurtle the nation back into another deep recession.

The Democrats and Republicans are quick to blame one another for the state of economic chaos the nation is in, but there is complete agreement on the speed at which the country is hurtling towards that fiscal cliff.

Government agencies and DoD are all spending inordinate amounts of time and resources putting together a game plan to deal with the inevitable impacts that sequestration will have on the shutdown of numerous government programs. Northern Virginia is bracing for an clearly devastating economic hit if sequestration goes into effect.

Businesses of all stripes are bracing for the loss of contracts, pending layoffs of personnel, and the long-term impacts of losing huge government contracts that have been the mainstay of many of the so-called “Beltway Bandits” that have supported government programs for decades.

Every service business in PWC will be hit when employers lay off employees and scale back their operations. In short, sequestration will hit every family in Prince William County.

Many political pundits argue it is all a game of “chicken” and the deal will be cut at the last minute to save the economy.

That, according to economists, is a fools errand to ignore the threat. To not plan for the sequestration, or to ignore its potential implementation, is an extremely dangerous path for any government body, or industry dependent on government contracts, to follow.

But just 25 miles down the road, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors seems completely oblivious to the potential economic train wreck that is looming.

Chairman Stewart will tell any crowd (defined as two or more participants, including Stewart as one of the two) that the state of Virginia just won’t “be there” to build roads in Prince William County. That is why Stewart is so aggressive in pushing for funding for roads. The Chairman sees no problem with the fact that PWC taxpayers essentially get “double-taxed” for road construction.

And, no matter how Chairman Stewart chooses to color it, the leaders in Richmond are smart enough to see that if PWC wants to build the roads, then they can take the share of PWC road money and build roads somewhere else.

The upcoming BOCS agenda includes more road spending seemingly as though the County is living in some fantasy land that is immune from the real world.

That is in stark contrast to the fears of elected leaders in Virginia. They get the threat of an economic downturn fueled by sequestration. Here is a sampling of their take on the impending threat to the economy in Virginia:

Governor Bob McDonnell:

“Virginia is the home of America’s military. We are home to the Pentagon, to Quantico, to Norfolk, to Langley AFB, and so many other critical components of our nation’s armed forces. The President has put our defense budget on course for radical cuts that even his own Secretary of Defense says will be “devastating” to U.S. national security. An American president’s most fundamental duty is to protect our country. As the Governor of Virginia, but also as a veteran, the son of a veteran and the father of a veteran, I fully understand that what is at stake is not only a potentially major economic blow to the Commonwealth but a great deal more: namely, our national security in a dangerous world.”

Lt. Governor Bill Bolling:

“We are very concerned about the impact that sequestration could have on Virginia’s economy. We all understand that budget reductions have to be made, but we need to make targeted reductions, and we should not expect the defense budget to carry a disproportionate share of the cuts. If sequestration proceeds as the President wants, it could have a devastating effect on the military which would adversely impact Virginia’s economy and leave the nation less capable of defending our interests. It could also deliver a devastating blow to the private sector defense contractors who make up a big part of Virginia’s economy, especially in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. This is just another example of how the President’s approach to running the country is jeopardizing our economic viability.”

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli:

“Even Barack Obama’s Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, is alarmed about the course the President has set us on. In fact, he’s highly alarmed, going so far as to say that it will have the same effect as ‘shooting ourselves in the head.’ For President Obama to play budgetary Russian roulette with national defense is shameful. The damage to our local economy here in Virginia will be enormous. But the damage to our national security is what really counts. It is absolutely critical that we seriously attack our debt and deficit problems, and that’s going to take cooperation to avoid these types of severe sequestration cuts.”

But, back in the rarified air of the Supervisor’s Chamber in McCoart, there is no sense of panic or doom. In fact, it is business as usual in implementing the Stewart transportation doctrine of spending money on roads and infrastructure because it will never be this cheap to build again.

When the time comes to pay the bill for all of that aggressive “cheap” construction, you guessed it: The PWC taxpayers who get stuck with the tab every time.

Chairman Stewart strongly advocates the doctrine of buying infrastructure while it’s dirt cheap, but he does not even consider the implications of where the money comes from: The PWC taxpayers.

The BOCS treats PWC taxpayers like an ATM with no withdrawal limit.

With the potential threat of sequestration on the horizon, The Sheriff thinks the prudent and safe course would be to delay any big spending and wait to see what happens late this year.

Prince William County literally has a bulls eye on its back with sequestration, and any third-grader can see the need to step back and wait to see what happens before we bleed the County coffers dry.

But, like The Sheriff said, the BOCS fails to see any of this problem — for proof you need only to review the following items on the September 11, 2012 Agenda:

More than $12 million being poured into the Stewart “build it when it is cheap” program.

The problem: The taxpayers have to pay the bill at a time when they cannot afford the higher taxes needed to fund all these new government projects.

Chairman Stewart, the materials cost and labor charges are cheap because demand is down.

Demand is down because no one has the money to spend on projects right now.

Homeowners likely would like to finish a basement, add a deck, or put an addition on the house. Homeowners simply cannot afford it. And homeowners get the threat posed by sequestration.

How is it that Prince William County government can afford it?

How is it that Prince William Count government does not get the threat posed by sequestration?

by The Sheriff of Nottingham
The Sheriff of Nottingham in Prince William County

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