Local Ballot Measures
I voted on Tuesday. Sadly Bob Barr didn’t win the presidency, but I’m hopeful that the Libertarian Party will make a strong showing in 2012. Or, perhaps, not. That’s a subject for another day. Today I want to share my view on ballot measures for local bond initiatives and why I won’t vote for them when I have no information about them.
When I went to vote on Tuesday, the front of the ballot had the Presidential, Senate, and Congress candidates. The back had several local Loudoun County bond measures. Two were to authorize the issuance of bonds for school construction. One was to issue bonds for a fire and rescue station. I voted against the first two and for the third. The reason actually has nothing to do with whether or not we should have more schools. The problem is, I know nothing about these measures.
I try to be an informed voter, but I have seen nothing in the local media or in any mailings about these bond measures. I am not going to vote yes to authorize somewhere between $50 and $100 million dollars in new municipal debt without knowing what I’m voting for.
Perhaps because it’s education and they assume people like education, the forces behind the bond measure didn’t feel it necessary to communicate anything about it. But that argument doesn’t work for me. I want information.
If there is going to be a bond measure to pay for school construction I want to know what that does to our local government’s financial position. Why do we need these schools? I’m aware that Loudoun County is growing quickly, but what is the status of the current schools? Are they overcrowded? When will the new schools be ready for students to attend? How long will these new schools “hold us over” until we need to build yet more schools?
I have not even heard these questions be asked, much less any answers. So I can’t vote for these initiatives in good conscience. Which is unfortunate, as I suspect we probably do need more schools in the county. But in the future I’d love for Loudoun County to provide me more information before asking me for my money.
As an aside, I voted for the fire and rescue station because it was a relatively small amount of money (about $8 million) and from the mailings I get from our local volunteer rescue squad I do believe it’s needed.