Sometimes, 'Prudence' Means 'Taxes'

Local governments across Virginia and across the United States are facing tough financial times these days.

Federal stimulus dollars are dwindling away; financially strapped state governments are cutting aid to localities; the cost to provide basic services is rising; and tax revenues, which lag the performance of the economy, are meager.

Here in Central Virginia, school divisions are staring at multi-million budget shortfalls, primarily because of less state dollars and increased payments to the state retirement fund. Municipal governments are staring at gaping budget gaps for many of the same reasons. Across our region, school boards, boards of supervisors and city councils trimmed just about all the low-hanging budget fruit years ago and began cutting into the muscle and bone of essential services years ago.

So what’s left for a responsible elected public official to consider? The dreaded “T” word ... the word only whispered in dark corners when no one but the most trusted colleagues are around ... taxes.

That’s the case in Campbell County, which is staring at at possible $6 million shortfall in the 2012/13 fiscal year and perhaps as great as $7.5 million in the 2013/14 fiscal year.

Two possible revenue sources the board is pondering are a meals tax and a lodging tax. Campbell and Appomattox counties are the only two localities in Central Virginia that don’t have such taxes. County staff estimate that a meals tax of 4 percent, the average for the region, could bring in $1.5 million annually; a 2 percent lodging tax could generate $150,000 per year.

Now let’s be clear right now: None of us likes taxes ... not a single one of us. But we also expect government to provide certain services. Law enforcement. Fire and emergency medical protection. Public education. Clean water. Garbage pickup. Streets cleared of snow in the winter. And none of it is free. It’s paid for with taxes.

Indeed, you could argue that the most legitimate tax is the one that’s imposed close to home where the services it pays for can be seen on a daily basis.

That’s why we commonsense fiscal conservatives encourage the Campbell Board of Supervisors to continue planning for a meals/lodging tax referendum. It’s fiscally prudent planning, and the Campbell supervisors have proven they’re among the best penny-pinchers in the business.

Now there are some people in Campbell County (indeed, some past local elected officials), as there are everywhere, who would love to eliminate every tax possible, cut every government program in sight and eliminate government jobs, offices and departments across the board. But we don’t see that thinking as reasonable or prudent; rather, it’s irresponsibly radical and dangerous.

We’ve seen the Campbell supervisors in action over the years. We know they’re penny-pinchers of the first order. They’ve earned the public’s trust — and ours, especially when it comes to fiscal matters.