In April 2015 the Patrick County Board of Supervisors refinanced the 2008 school bond debt “saving” the taxpayers of Patrick County $1,775,806 in debt service (interest payments) over the life of the loan.
The refinancing was structured in such a manner that the bulk of the “savings” would occur in the first three years of the life of the loan. The “savings” in 2016 was $889,334, 2017 will be $606,666 and 2018 will be $227,164. After these first three years the debt service returns to within a few hundred dollars of what it was under the original financing terms.
The question is what choices have the board of supervisors made to benefit the taxpayers of Patrick County with this windfall “savings”? They could have chosen to lower the real estate tax rate. They could have chosen to make a one-time disbursement (refund or credit) to the taxpayers. They could have applied the “savings” to the debt’s principal thereby reducing the overall debt of the county. They could have chosen to fund some needed programs or services. What the board of supervisors chose was to raise real estate taxes not once but twice. They chose to place a referendum on the ballot in November for yet another tax increase in the form of a meals tax. They chose to give the board of supervisors a 10% pay increase. They chose to give all the county employees at least a 3% raise (some received more). They chose to tar and gravel a couple of miles of road which many people living on those roads don’t want surfaced. They chose not to fund 24 hour paid EMS service. In short, our supervisors to date have chosen to do nothing for the benefit of the taxpayers with the $1,775,806 “savings” unless you are one of the few, who live on one of the roads to be surfaced, work for the county or are a county supervisor. As the debt service rises back to the previous level, as it will fully in 2019, I can only assume the board of supervisors, true to form, will continue to choose to raise taxes to cover all the poor choices they previously made. When this happens I may have to dine at the soup kitchen they chose to relocate!
Bill Moore Woolwine
