Further Review of RNAG Report on Reston Roads, John Mooney

Fairfax County is using the results of the Reston Network Analysis Group (RNAG) final analysis of traffic demand and improvements for the next three decades to guide its planning of Reston roadway improvements.  In the following paper, John Mooney, RA Board of Directors, takes a look at some of the shortcomings in that analysis.  

   Reston Roadways Apparently Not Studied, and Thus Not Modelled,  in Reston Network Analysis:  Final Report,... by TerryMaynard on Scribd

Statement of Terry Maynard, Co-Chair, Reston 20/20 Committee at Board of Supervisors Hearing on the Reston Road Tax

 Statement of

Terry Maynard, Co-Chair, Reston 20/20 Committee

re FCDOT’s Proposed Reston Station Area Transportation Service District Tax

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Public Hearing

February 28, 2017

Good afternoon.  I am Terry Maynard.  I reside at 2217 Wakerobin Lane in Reston.  I am speaking on behalf of the Reston 20/20 Committee.  

The Reston TSD road tax proposal you are considering is a sham based on erroneous assumptions, defective logic, and inaccurate official public statements. 

The greatest fiction in this tax scheme is the foundation assumption that Fairfax County faces a $350 million “funding gap” for improving Reston station area streets over four decades.  Of that so-called gap, FCDOT proposes that $139 million should be paid by a Transportation Service District (TSD) tax on Reston station area property owners.  That includes an estimated $40-$45 million on owned residences.  That’s about $1 million per year in added homeowner taxes in 2016 dollars.
 

In fact, there is no gap.  In making this assumption, FCDOT implicitly declares that Reston homeowners must be taxed because:

• The County cannot move any current tax revenues in its $4 billion budget to improve Reston’s streets.  
• The County can’t use any future station area property tax revenues to invest in Reston’s streets.
• The County can never raise the rates on any county-wide taxes that would help generate billions in future tax revenues. 

To insist on these assumptions is an outright falsehood, and FCDOT and you know it.

Moreover, the idea that homeowners should pay a special tax to meet a basic infrastructure requirement is ludicrous.  How many of you pay a special annual tax for improvements in public streets or intersections near your homes?  The answer is “None.”  No, our public streets are a collective County asset, not the funding responsibility of neighborhood homeowners.

If logic were actually applied, it would dictate that only those who benefit financially from the street improvements would pay for them.   Two parties benefit:  Developers through profits averaging over $1 billion per year on their Reston station area development, and the County through some $11 billion in future station area property tax revenues. 

Moreover, if Reston’s developers can’t afford an added $1 million per year contribution to their road fund out of the $45 billion in profits they will likely earn in the next four decades, they really shouldn’t be in business in Reston.  

Worst of all, this scheme calls for 87% of homeowners’ future taxes to be spent on building streets on the grid’s periphery that will generate more traffic and would otherwise not be built because adjoining development would not be profitable.  From homeowners pockets to developer profits.  That’s not even happening in Tysons. 

Homeowners, on the other hand, will not earn an additional penny and, contrary to official statements, they will face more congested streets under the RNAG plan as a result of your decision to lower urban traffic service standards. 

In one line, this taxation scheme calls for Reston homeowners to pay more for less. 

Yet the County continues to flog the proposal with inaccurate and incomplete statements. 

• It “assumes” that the proposed tax rate will remain flat, but this is a teaser rate that will escalate quickly.
• It rejects the need to invest in any additional bus service despite the planned doubling of Reston station area population and jobs.
• It fails to acknowledge that any “sunset provision” in the scheme could be easily eliminated by the Board.

This entire endeavor is political theater to legitimize a Board-driven effort to create another tax revenue stream.  If this is approved, you will likely use the same bogus approach to create comparable tax districts in the dozen or so other County re-development areas identified in last year’s zoning ordinance amendment. 

Stop the phony political theatrics to justify a dishonest scheme.  Manage County spending rather than creating deceitful gimmicks to add to Reston homeowners’ growing tax burden.  Stop this unjustified and unfair tax now.

Thank you.

Official Board of Supervisors Agenda Item for Reston TSD Road Tax Hearing, 4:30PM, February 28, 2017, Government Center

Below is the official Board of Supervisors agenda text for the upcoming Board hearing on the proposed Reston Transportation Service District (TSD) road tax.  A couple of early observations:

• There is no "sunset" clause provision terminating the tax after 40 years as stated in Supervisor Hudgins' February newsletter.  
• The item "assumes" the initial $.021/$100 valuation will remain unchanged throughout the 40-year period.  

Here's the full text:

 4:30 p.m. Public hearing concerning consideration of a request to endorse a funding plan for transportation improvements related to the Reston Phase I Comprehensive Plan Amendment (Reston Transportation Funding Plan). The proposed Reston Transportation Funding Plan addresses the $2.27 billion (in 2016 dollars) need for transportation infrastructure improvements to support the land use recommendations in the Reston Phase I Comprehensive Plan Amendment. The proposed plan allocates roughly $1.2 billion of the improvements over 40 years from public funds–Federal, State, local, and regional funds that are anticipated for countywide transportation projects. It also recommends that approximately $1.07 billion of the cost for these improvements be raised from private fund– sources of revenue that are generated within the Reston Transit Station Areas (TSAs): Wiehle-Reston East, Reston Town Center, and Herndon Transit Station Area and used exclusively for transportation improvements in the Reston TSAs. These private revenues would include developer contributions through actual construction, a transportation road fund that would collect contributions from new developments in the Reston TSAs, and a transportation service tax district that would allow the Board to levy and collect an annual tax from all property owners in the Reston TSAs. The proposed Reston Transportation Funding Plan includes initial rates for the Road Fund and Service District. These proposed initial rates, however, are subject to Board approval. Specifically, the Board will take a separate action to approve the Road Fund Guidelines and, following a separate public hearing, create the Service District. The initial rates included in the proposed Transportation Funding Plan are as follows:  Road Fund:  Residential per Dwelling Unit Rate: $2,090 Commercial per Square Foot Rate: $9.56.  It is anticipated that these rates would be adjusted annually, based on inflation.  Service District: Rate per $100 of Assessed Value: $0.021.  The proposed funding plan assumes this rate would remain flat during the life of the service district; however, the actual rate would be adopted annually by the Board of Supervisors. Property outside the Reston TSAs would be unaffected by the service district. More information about the development of the Reston Transportation Funding Plan can be found here:  http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fcdot/restonnetworkanalysis/ Questions regarding this proposed amendment may be directed to the Fairfax County Department of Transportation at 703-877-5600.

 We have discussed the absurdity of a TSD tax on Reston station area homeowners as well as the underlying fraud behind this financing proposal.  If you agree with us that this tax proposal is unwarranted and unfair, please do one or all of the following:

• Contact Supervisor Hudgins and tell her your concerns (Catherine.Hudgins@fairfaxcounty.gov)
• Sign our petition to stop this tax.  
• Attend and testify at the upcoming hearing.  

"The Absurdity of a New Reston Road Tax," Terry Maynard, Reston Connection, January 4-10, 2017

The following is the text of the subject op-ed written by Reston 20/20 Co-Chair Terry Maynard.

On December 19, while most of us were getting ready for the holidays, a bare quorum of the County’s Reston Network Analysis Group (RNAG), a group appointed by Supervisor Hudgins, met and voted by a narrow majority to endorse a new tax on Reston station area homeowners to help pay for future street improvements there.  The vote was literally no more than an endorsement by a developer-dominated group of a totally unwarranted tax that will subsidize for profit development without a single community representative from the Reston station areas affected by the prospective tax.   
 

The RNAG vote specifically endorsed a proposed Tax Service District (TSD) that imposes added property taxes of $.021/$100 valuation on all property owners—including residences—living near Reston’s Metro stations.  As laid out by the county transportation department (FCDOT), residents will end up paying about 40% of the $350 million in TSD taxes over the next 40 years—some $140 million under a set of assumptions that grossly understate the likely costs residents will pay.

Absurd County Assumptions

And why?  Because the Board of Supervisors directed FCDOT to find a new revenue source to pay for improvements of the streets in and around Reston’s station areas, of course, without asking if a new funding source were needed.  Then FCDOT generated a phony $350 million “gap” in Reston road funding over the next 40 years that could only be filled with some new tax revenue source—as directed by the Board. 

The funding “gap” is based on a number of bogus assumptions.  First, at the heart of this tax scheme is the absolutely incredulous assumption that the County is unable to re-allocate any of its current $4 billion in annual County General Fund tax revenues to improve Reston’s streets in and around the station areas.  The amount that needs to be diverted each year is less than $9 million, a sum that barely rates as a rounding error in the County budget. 

Second, if for whatever cockamamie reason the County seriously believes it can’t divert funds to improve Reston’s streets to support massive development, it could ever so slightly raise the tax rate on any of several existing County-wide tax mechanisms to generate the needed funds.  In a more perfect world, the Board could even twist developers’ arms to have them pay for all the road improvements since they alone will profit to the tune of more than one billion dollars per year over the next four decades.  Another special tax on Reston homeowners (on top of the existing community-wide special tax district charging $.047/$100 valuation to fund the Reston Community Center) or any part of them is totally unwarranted; the street improvements are merely a fabricated excuse.

Third, the TSD proposal ignores the order of magnitude growth in the taxable value of planned Reston station area development over the next four decades.  Right now, Reston’s station areas are valued at about $6 billion.  Four decades from now they will likely be valued at more than $60 billion, and maybe as much as $90 billion, based on long-term area experience.  Even without a rate increase, that means the County will collect over $11 billion in basic property taxes from Reston’s station areas over the next 40 years, an average of more than one-quarter billion dollars in Reston station area taxes per year even without the TSD.  Surely three percent of those $11 billion-plus revenues could be used to fund Reston’s road improvements.

Fourth, don’t fool yourself into assuming those new TSD tax funds will just be added to Reston’s current transportation funding level.  The bulk of the added tax revenue generated by this TSD tax stream will most likely be offset by the County’s diversion of much of its current Reston station area transportation funding to other areas of the county.   

And, once the tax is approved, station area residents will be stuck:

• This tax doesn’t require a referendum approval, just the approval of the tax-ravenous Board of Supervisors, backed by the pre-holiday endorsement of the phony RNAG group.
• There is nothing to keep the Board of Supervisors from raising the TSD tax rate—and residential tax burden—just as it has with a similar TSD in Tysons.
• Finally, there is no sunset provision on the TSD proposal.  When that initial roadway investment is completed, station area homeowners will continue to pay the TSD tax indefinitely.  

Stop the Scam:  Restonians Pay while the County Collects Forever

And there you have the massive scam of the alleged “gap” in Reston station area street improvement funding.  There really is no “funding gap.” There is just another County scheme to pick homeowners’ pockets.  It reflects the Board’s refusal to put an additional penny into Reston streets despite billions of existing and future tax dollars sources.  At the same time, Restonians will face worse traffic by virtue of the County’s explicit intent to lower traffic flow standards such that intersection delays will nearly double during rush hour.   

The notion of a Reston station area “funding gap” is a swindle perpetrated by the Board to justify the creation of another tax revenue stream unrelated to any legitimate new tax funding need.  As a Restonian, whether or not you live in a Reston station area, you need to oppose this preposterous County tax scheme. 

• You can do so by contacting Supervisor Hudgins’ office (Catherine.Hudgins@fairfaxcounty.gov) and telling her that you are against the Board’s imposition of this unnecessary and unfair tax. 
• You can also sign the petition on Change.org (https://www.change.org/p/fairfax-county-board-of-supervisors-stop-the-tsd-road-tax-on-reston-metro-station-area-residents) calling for the defeat of this absurd tax.  
• And you can testify at the upcoming RNAG community meeting in January (date & place TBD), the Board of Supervisors public hearing on the RNAG funding plan (February 28, 2017), and the Board’s public hearing on the specific TSD tax rate proposal in March (date TBD). 

Please step up and help stop this unwarranted additional special tax on Reston station area homeowners.

Terry Maynard, Co-Chair

Reston 20/20 Committee

County Transportation Department will recommend Transportation Service District tax Option #12 to Board Transportation Committee

In its planned presentation to the Board of Supervisors acting as the "Board Transportation Committee" this Tuesday, December 13, FCDOT will recommend that the Board adopt Option #12, a Transportation Service District (TSD) for Reston's station areas with a tax rate of $0.021/$100 valuation.  This tax will apply to all property owners in the station areas, including residents.

Below is the full FCDOT presentation.  The recommendation is highlighted on p. 16.

Although the initial tax rate would be set at $0.021/$100 valuation, there is absolutely no restriction on the Board raising that rate (just like property tax rates) as transportation improvement costs rise.  Moreover, as assessed property rates rise, the cost to residents will increase with appreciation.  (Note:  As we documented just last month, early estimates of major roadway improvement costs routinely double and triple in a very short period of time.)

Despite FCDOT's assertion of broad endorsement of this tax, no community representative from the Metro station areas has served on the Reston Network Analysis Group (RNAG).  The only Restonian who lives in these areas serving on the RNAG is a stakeholder representative who is a paid representative of Boston Properties as Executive Director of the Reston Town Center Association.  This is truly taxation without representation.

   FCDOT Recommends a New Reston Metro Station Are Tax District by TerryMaynard on Scribd

Cost of Key Reston Station Area Road Improvement Projects to Double or Triple Board-approved Projections?

To:  Tom Biesiadny, Chief, FC Department of Transportation

CC: 

• Kristin Calkins, RNAG Project Manager
• Janet L. Nguyen, RNAG Funding Plan Manager
• Cate Fulkerson, CEO, Reston Association & RNAG Stakeholder Group member
• Andrew Sigle, Chair, RNAG Community Group
• Tammi Petrine, Co-Chair, Reston 20/20
• Dick Rogers, RA Multi-Modal Transportation Committee member
• Supervisor Cathy Hudgins 

Subject:  VFOIA Request: Explanation of Forecast Cost Increases of Selected RNAG Projects

Dear Mr. Biesiadny,

We have recently completed a comparison of projected costs of proposed RNAG projects with those in the Board of Supervisors approved in its transportation project priorities, 2014-2020.  Most of the common projects have similar project cost estimates, subject to inflation at 2%-3% per year since 2014 (& assuming the costs in that approved list actually reflect 2013 dollars). 

Two major Reston station area serving projects, however, show staggering cost increases between the approval of the TPP and the latest presentation of proposed RNAG projects:

• Soapstone Extension DTR Overpass:   For reasons we cannot discern, the projected cost of this project has risen from $91.75MM in 2014 to $170MM in 2016, an 85% increase.

• Fairfax County Parkway Widening:   While the 2014 TPP projection put the cost of widening the entire 35-mile parkway at $396MM, only 2.5 miles of that parkway—DTR to West Ox Road—remotely serves Reston’s station areas.  A proportional cost of that section (2.5/35) would put the 2014 cost at $28.3MM, yet RNAG projects the cost of that 2.5 mile widening to serve Reston at $80MM, a 183% increase in the cost.

VFOIA Information Request:  Please provide a detailed explanation of the causes of the major cost increases and why those costs should be laid on to Reston station areas for funding considerations.

Thank you in advance for your explanation.

Sincerely,

Terry Maynard, Co-Chair

Reston 20/20 Committee

UPDATE:  We went back and looked at the RMAG Final Report in 2009 to get a sense of the projected cost of the Soapstone Connector then.  The RMAG report states, "By far the most expensive item in the recommended roadway program is the construction of the 
Soapstone Connector over the DIAAH, with a total estimated cost of $32 million for 
bridge and an additional $10 million for other roadway construction . . . ."  That's $42 million.  Inflated at 3%/year, that total would be about $55 million in 2016 dollars, but RNAG now puts the cost of the bridge and approaches at $170 million.  It is clear that FCDOT has no reasonable way for accurately forecasting the cost of major transportation projects.

Is the County positioning itself to redevelop Hidden Creek golf course for high-density development?

In this video excerpt from last week's RA Board of Directors meeting, RA land use attorney John McBride briefs the Board on how the RNAG's pending "grid of streets" plan positions the County for taking land from the south end of Hidden Creek golf course for redevelopment.  About 6 minutes into this excerpt, McBride highlights a County-proposed street in the grid that would border the golf course, but the topography of the area would require the street to actually go through the golf course to American Way Way north of Plaza America.  The entire discussion takes about 12 minutes, but feel free to watch the balance of McBride's important presentation on Reston's future development.

As McBride states, Reston intends to remain a two golf course community, but this proposal would sabotage that goal if carried through.

https://youtu.be/RzBme5B9Vzw?t=8883

STOP THE RESTON ROAD TAX NOW!

   Stop the Reston Road Tax --Final--rev by TerryMaynard on Scribd

The Proposed Reston Transportation Tax is a Fraud

“The simplest explanation is usually the best one.”  Occam’s Razor

For the better part of a year, the Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) has been trying to persuade a group of Restonians called the Reston Network Analysis Group (RNAG) appointed by Supervisor Hudgins that some or all of Reston homeowners need to pay an added tax to improve the road networks around the Metrorail stations.   

The need to improve the roads and intersections, FCDOT says, is obvious because of all the development that will be going on around these station areas in the decades ahead and, of course, Restonians should pay at least a share for those road improvements.  In fact, FCDOT continues, we have the model established in Tysons were residents are paying added taxes to help defray the costs of roadway improvements there. 

FCDOT is so convinced of the importance of Restonians paying an added property tax to help cover the cost of these improvements that it has offered up no less than ELEVEN different tax scenarios for the resident RNAG to consider.  

All of these 11 scenarios somehow relate to how the taxes at Tysons were developed, which is irrelevant to Reston unless, unbeknownst to us, whatever features the Tysons’ model(s) have are written on a stone tablet and brought down from the mountain top.   What about the models for other redevelopment areas such as Baileys Crossroads, Seven Corners, or the linear Highway 1 re-do in Mt. Vernon?  Reston is, in fact, its own beast with its own features, needs, opportunities, issues, and goals—and it is unclear that any of these characteristics are the same as they are in Tysons.   Yet FCDOT and RNAG have never taken a minute to examine these issues.  FCDOT has just presumed that whatever fits in Tysons will fit in Reston.  

Moreover, all eleven scenarios are complex involving different types of improvements, share splits between public and private (which, of course, don’t line up with citizens normal understanding of those two terms), residential versus commercial, and so on.  The only reason to introduce all these complications is to confuse the issue of who should pay for the roadway improvements by focusing on irrelevant issues.  It is very much like a three-card Monte or shell game:  Introduce a lot of motion (or commotion) and re-direct attention to confuse the mark. 

The bottom line is that there is no compelling reason that Restonians should pay any added property or other taxes whether through a tax service district (TSD) covering the transit station areas (TSAs) or a special tax district (STD—a la the Reston Community Center STD) covering all Reston. 

Using Occam’s razor, that a simple, straightforward explanation is the best one, we believe the best answer to financing the needed roadway improvements is, “Those who benefit financially from the Reston roadway improvements should contribute financially to their implementation.”  There are three parties to this effort:  The County, the developers, and the residents.

• The County will benefit financially from new property tax and other tax flows (eg—sales tax revenues from new retail businesses) created by the new development in the TSAs.
• The developers will benefit to the tune of billions of dollars from the added rent income from their new development as well as the continuing profits from existing development.
• The residents will receive absolutely no financial benefit.

In contrast, Reston’s residents are guaranteed to see worse transportation capabilities.  FCDOT has guaranteed this by setting a lower standard for managing peak traffic flows that will not only hurt those who live in the TSAs, but those Restonians and others who travel to or through them.  Moreover, they are also guaranteed worse local bus transit service because FCDOT states that it will not increase local bus service, just move the existing routes around.  So, yes, the goal of the County is to make moving around Reston more difficult, but it still it wants to charge some or all Restonians a tax for this more limited capability.

The only reasonable and honest rationale for the new Reston transportation tax—again, using Occam’s Razor to look for a simple, straightforward explanation—is that the County Board wants to create a new property tax revenue stream that it can adjust, meaning increase, at its prerogative anytime indefinitely.   

In short, the elaborate financial calculations and manipulations by the FCDOT for the RNAG are simply a ruse—a straight-up fraud—to create a new property tax revenue stream for the County that is unlikely to be spent in full in Reston and will definitely make Reston mobility more difficult.  

Act to stop it while you can.   Write to: 

• Tom Biesiadny, FCDOT Chief
• Kristin Calkins, FCDOT RNAG Project Manager
• Supervisor Hudgins
• Andy Sigle, RNAG Chair
• Cate Fulkerson, RA CEO
• Sridhar Ganesan, RCA President

Find out about new road taxes at the RNAG Community meeting next week.

Next Monday, June 27, 7PM, North County Government Center, FCDOT will present a community meeting on funding the proposed re-shaping of the roadways in and around the Dulles Corridor to accommodate the massive growth planned there over the next 40 years.  We anticipate two key elements of the FCDOT presentation (although we do not have the presentation). 

• First, an update on the scope of the mitigation efforts that will be required to handle the traffic expected as density mushrooms along the Dulles Corridor.   So far, FCDOT has gone through two of the three tiers of mitigation (from easiest/cheapest to most difficult/expensive).  According to  in late March, even with these Tier 2 improvements, 31 station area intersections will still be operating at Level of Service (LOS) “F” during the peak AM or PM or both hours.   

Second, in a presentation to just the Advisory Group this week, FCDOT noted that it has found unexplained $223,000,000 in savings for the “grid of streets,” which were always planned to be paid for by developers only.  However, no explanation is provided on how all this money is to be saved.  

We are perplexed by how FCDOT managed to reduce the cost of the “grid of streets” for developers by nearly a quarter-billion dollars (22%) without significantly lowering County expectations for these roadways.   We don’t know what features (number of lanes) or amenities (bike lanes) might have been cut to achieve this savings.  In short, it sounds too good to be true. 

On the other hand, FCDOT is proposing that station area residents pay a new property-based tax.   It described two new funding options (new #6 and new #7) that would entail a new Tax Service District (like the one all Restonians pay for the Reston Community Center) for station area residents that would cost them $0.015/$100 valuation to fill an $85-$110 million funding gap depending on the option selected.   Please see the footnote below that says New Option #6 would actually need to have another $0.005/$100 valuation—or a total of $0.020/$100 valuation—to cover cash flow needs.  Always read the small print.  FCDOT says this would add $75 to $100 to each taxpayer’s bill (depending on the option) for a property valued at $500,000.

 

At the risk of repeating ourselves, we would make the following points on the proposed taxation of Reston station area residents to fund these roadway improvements:

• Station area residents will derive no benefit from these roadway improvements; in fact, just the opposite.  It is the stated intent of FCDOT to degrade to intersection Level of Service goal for these streets from LOS “D” to LOS “E.”  More broadly, this degraded service intent extends specifically to the through streets—the ones Restonians beyond the station areas use to travel from one side of Reston to the other—even though they do not intend to go to or from the station areas.    
• At the same time, developers will likely earn nearly $6 BILLION over the next five years from their existing and new Reston station area construction.   The roughly 6,000 homeowners in the station areas will not receive one extra dollar in income because they live in the station areas, yet they will be taxed an added $85-$111 million over the same five-year timeframe.   If that tax cost were paid by the developers, it would represent less than two percent of their net operating income in the same five-year period.

And please note that:

• The $.015/$100 valuation (or the more likely $.020/$100 valuation) tax is almost certainly a “teaser rate” introductory tax.  Tysons’ Tax Service District tax rate went up one full penny per $100 valuation in one year, and will likely continue to rise.  We can expect the same in Reston.
• Property appreciation will have its usual impact on property taxes:  As the property value rises, so will the Tax Service District tax—even if the rate doesn’t change.
• Tax Service District will never go away.  Just because the construction cost gap is closed in five years doesn’t mean there won’t be maintenance costs forever that will be paid by this residential tax.  And it is not at all clear that the money will even go to Reston or to roads.
• Forcing residents of the station areas (or all Reston as previously proposed) to pay an additional tax for roads that will be less passable than at present is nothing less than massive and grotesque corporate welfare served up by the County to appease developers who are already making billions in profits each year.

Moreover, if $233 million FCDOT cut in the “grid of streets” cost can be cut from developers’ contribution to the grid, why couldn’t the developers easily pick up the $85-111 million FCDOT wants the residents of the Dulles Corridor to pay?  After all, to do so would still mean a savings of $122 million or more for them—and presumably decent streets.

All these are observations and questions Reston attendees at next week’s RNAG community meeting may want to pursue with FCDOT.  Again, that meeting is next Monday, June 27, at 7PM at the North County Government Center.  

Come and learn about the cost and financing of future streets in our station areas and how much you may have to pay for them.