Hart Takes Issue With How County Incurs Debt
Steve Hart, a farmer and retired Army engineer, has been closely following Rockbridge County government for a number of years. A candidate for Kerrs Creek supervisor, he takes issue with how the county is incurring large amounts of debt to pay for long-term capital projects.
“Last year, the Board of Supervisors considered two 30year bond issues with a total cost of $42 million to finance two new buildings to replace two existing buildings,” said Hart. “I demonstrated to them that for the same payments, we could purchase the first building with cash in seven years and the second building with cash in 10 more years. Then, by continuing to save, we could have $20 million in cash on hand at the 30-year point. Deciding we had to have the new buildings now, they voted for the debt.”
Noting that he currently has four grandchildren, “When this vote was made, one was born, one was waiting to be born, and two were not yet conceived. All of my grandchildren will pay for this debt. The [supervisors] decided to tax people that did not yet exist because they refused to exercise the leadership and discipline required to tough-it-out in the existing buildings until we could pay cash for the new ones.
“Adults do not leave financial messes for their grandchildren to clean up. Adults clean up their own messes and leave a legacy of well-functioning systems. I am running with the goal of eliminating our county’s $87 million debt and leaving our children and grandchildren a financially sound, proactive approach to county financing.”
In addition to this debt, he continued, the county has “$10 million in landfill closure obligations, and other unacknowledged future expenses related to buildings and equipment. The Maury River Service Authority is looking at $40 million of significant expense in the near future. Today is the time to start planning for our next landfill site while we still have many years left in our current one. Since we are carrying a significant financial burden from the things we have already done, we have no business and no money to be spending on future gold-plated projects like airports. While paying off these debts, we must focus on only our absolutely mission essential tasks.”
Hart is a big believer in supporting volunteer first responders. “I’m a volunteer with the Kerrs Creek Volunteer Fire Department. At a major fire or accident, 90 percent of the folks on scene are volunteers. The community needs to understand that without volunteers, we will not put out fires. There is simply not enough money in the county to replace the volunteers with paid career staff. So, if folks want fires put out and accident response, more people must volunteer.”
Hart said he sees the advantages of the county’s long-term solid waste plan to replace unmanned Dumpsters with staffed collection centers. “Overflowing Dumpsters, blowing trash, animal infiltration and county residents paying for unauthorized use” are the downsides of unmanned sites. Staffed centers, he said, “have the disadvantages of set hours and staff expense. My farm is next to an unmanned Dumpster site which was later converted to a staffed collection center. Having lived with both sets of disadvantages, I’ll take the disadvantages associated with a staffed collection center every time. None of our county should look like a roadside trash dump.”
Hart said he and his wife moved to Rockbridge County after he had spent 26 years as an Army engineer to start a farm and finish raising their children. “I taught civil engineering at [Virginia Military Institute] for seven years and now spend my time farming and having fun with grandchildren.”
STEVE HART
