THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, June 22, 1995 TAG: 9506210181
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 06 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Opinion
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOHNSON
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Last year, the city established a Special Taxing District in northern Suffolk.
Located to the west of the new Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel, this area of open, undeveloped land needed the extra funding to establish the basic water/sewerage, roads, street lights, etc., that would attract industrial investors. Local communities surrounding the proposed industrial park supported this tax district.
Now we hear that City Council proposes to extend the tax district to the east, encompassing, in part, the 40-year-old community of Respass Beach-Holly Acres. Real estate taxes will increase 19 cents per $100, with the money earmarked for installing water and sewer lines. And we assume at this point that each resident will still be required to pay the usual hook-up fees once the trunk lines are in place.
The city seems to be grappling for ways to pay for the growing demands for city services in outlying communities. Last year's idea was having the community pay for the on-site cost, and a percentage of the off-site cost, to bring water to the community. This, in addition to the Water Resource Recovery Fee (WRRF) and hook-up cost. The cost for some communities was astronomical. This idea was canned.
Prior to this concept, the WRRF was supposed to generate the funds to pay for the ``backbone facilities'' that included the on-site and off-site cost to supply water to communities.
Now it's a Special Tax District.
Of course, tax increases cannot be arbitrarily established. A public hearing is to be set in July to discuss this proposal. And there must be a vote. But already comments are being made, and questions beg for answers.
Can a Special Tax District, originally established for a very special industrial development, be extended into residential zones? What are the term limits of the district? What are the guarantees that the tax rates will be dropped once the water/sewerage project is complete?
Will these funds be used to install roads, curbing, etc.? And most importantly, has council exhausted all other options to fund the expansion of these basic services? Council carries the burden of proof.
Longtime residents ask, ``Why us?'' And here is a snide, bickering question you might end up hearing: How much of our basic tax dollars have been spent and are being spent to improve water/sewerage services in other areas of the city, and why can't they pay for their own lines just like you are asking us to do?
Will the two new water towers the city is planning to construct be paid by these communities being placed in a Special Tax District? Other Suffolk communities have pushed for water lines and gotten them without extra taxes. And other developers have bought raw farm land and spread out entirely new communities without establishing Special Tax Districts to bring water to the development.
Want to be divisive? How about financial assistance? Some communities have been granted economic aid, in the form of special loan rates, and some relieved of paying the WRRF, when low-income areas were required to hook up to new lines. Now I'm not against helping out in extreme cases. But remember, everyone in the city helped pay for that water line, to the poorest communities, including us.
Well, this just could be the way of the future. A sorta pay-as-you-go plan. If City Hall can present a convincing argument, maybe other communities will clamor to establish their own Special Tax Districts - little districts all throughout the city. And in all fairness, council surely won't create Special Tax Districts in areas where the residents couldn't afford to pay higher taxes. (Of course, they won't get the services they can't afford, either.)
Isn't there another way? MEMO: Karen Johnson is president of the Respass Beach-Holly Acres Civic
League.
Comment? Call 446-2446. by CNB