Editorial: Win-lose proposition, Fairfax Times, July 8, 2011

Injecting public-private partnerships into rail discussion a slippery slope

Those who have followed the Dulles rail project over the past decade probably didn’t bat an eye when “public-private partnership” and “defraying rail costs” were mentioned in the same breath by Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Sharon Bulova on June 28.

Bulova (D-At large), while briefing her fellow board members on the progress of negotiations between the rail project’s funding partners, said Fairfax County is being asked to consider soliciting public-private partnerships to help reduce the fast-rising costs of the Dulles Metrorail extension. The partnerships would help pay for all rail-related parking garages in Fairfax County and a couple of rail stations.

Bulova didn’t mention outfitting county staffers with tin cups or lemonade stand recipes, but summer isn’t even half over yet.

Joking aside, what’s become all too clear in recent months is that the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is out of both ideas and financial capacity. What’s also clear is that the project’s “funding” partners Fairfax taxpayers, Loudoun taxpayers, and anyone who uses the toll road between now and 2050 can expect to see their rail obligations grow tenfold (emphasis added). . . .

Click here for the rest of this Fairfax Times editorial.