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Sept. 18, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: Earlier this year, the county’s municipal finance consultant advised the Board of Supervisors that since our county has done a good job paying down its debt that we should “capture the decline” in debt payments so we could go into more debt.
Our Board of Supervisors has readily accepted this advice and this year has taken on debt for school renovation, building construction, and now, as reported in last week’s paper, a speculative land purchase in Raphine. The total new debt is somewhere in excess of $20 million on terms ranging from 10 to 30 years at a time when interest rates are at their highest in years.
While debt allows us to buy new things now, it makes us poorer as a county. Every dollar we pay in interest on debt is a Rockbridge County tax dollar sent out of the county to make some investor somewhere else rich. It also locks us into a cycle of debt where in 30 years we will have paid off the debt on a then worn-out building which will need refurbishment which we will have to borrow money for because we’ve been paying off debt, not saving money!
Additionally, in taking on this debt, we’ve taxed people that don’t exist yet because some of the taxpayers that will pay this debt in years 18-30 have not been born yet. It’s a slick trick to transfer wealth from non-existent future people to us today.
Finally, government will always speculate badly on land purchases and ownership because no one making the decision bears any significant personal hardship for bad decisions. Poor planning and poor decisions can be made up for by additional taxes. In our upcoming elections, let’s choose supervisors with the courage to say no to debt.
STEVE HART Kerrs Creek
