|
|
||
Date published: 2/5/2009
Spotsy will help only 'fat cats' with VRE
The Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors is about to vote once again on whether the county should join the Virginia Railway Express. Lost in the emotion and flag-waving is a question that must be answered: How many people from Spotsylvania ride VRE each day, and what would it cost county taxpayers to join? We do not have current figures, but a recent survey showed that approximately 800 daily commuters take the train. If we join VRE, the county would be required to pay at least $1.5 million per year, Looking at just five years, this means the county budget would be hit for $20 million, or some $25,000 per rider. To accomplish this, motorists would have to pay So teachers and deputies who have trouble affording to live in Spotsylvania will be asked to pay to help Washington fat cats travel in style. To sum up, over five years each driver would pay $150 in additional gas taxes; in turn, the county would pay VRE $7.5 million over that time frame. Plus, all taxpayers will have to pay for the bonds that build the station. It would be cheaper to give every one of the commuters a bus ticket and forget VRE. Alfred M. King Spotsylvania
People who ride VRE are certainly not fat cats. What irony coming from someone who lives in Fawn Lake. Anyone who rides VRE will attest that it is far from luxury transportation. It's certainly cheaper than driving and takes more cars off of I-95.
So the writer thinks that the $30/year is staying in the pockets of deputies and teachers? Wake up. The regional market equalizes prices, whether or not Spotsylvania joins VRE. Most deputies and teachers I talk to are tired of the county leaving millions on the table every year that we could have had for county transportation projects. Up to half the gas Spotsylvania is purchased by NON-RESIDENTS, i.e. people who do not live in Spotsylvania. So they more than cover the VRE subsidy.
that Spotsy residents are already helping to pay for people to use VRE since VRE gets a federal subsidy that comes from the federal taxes most of us pay? Well, that is very interesting. Perhaps we should write our congresspersons and stop such nonsense. Now it isn't just those 800 freeloading Spotsy riders, it is all riders that the Spotsy tax payers are subsidizing. Hmmmm.
Take a ride on VRE and see who the passengers are. They all have governemet ID because private sector employers wouldn't put up with 'the train was late' excuse 4-5-6 times a month, every month. If VRE was a reliable form of trasportation a lot more people would use it. As it is, only government employees benefit from it.
I agree with you. I don't have kids but we have to pay anyway. Also I feel sure that a lot of people living in Spotsylvania aren't paying for these big new houses from a salary earned in Spotsylvania.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
