Letters to the editor

Stormwater fix requires specifics

In order to fix Waynesboro stormwater systems, the City Council wants to create a new authority to repair and maintain the stormwater ponds.

Council hopes to raise $1.4 million annually to pay a staff to manage and perform the repairs and maintenance.  This week, the city approved a bond issue for $500,000 for the purchase of equipment for the new authority. In addition, the city is raising $1.2 million for repairs to eight neighborhoods heavily affected by flooding.

Here is the problem with this plan. First, council doesn't have any way to pay for it. It is presumptuous to issue a bond for equipment when officials do not yet have a plan for how to pay the people who will use it. Council has a series of proposed stormwater fees that will both push industry out of the city and make it less likely that anyone will move a business here.

What happens to the bond issue if the fees don't work out- This paints council into a box that makes it push through the fees simply because it's already approved the bonds.

Second, outsourcing the repairs and maintenance in a public bid process would be far more efficient. Not only would it be cheaper, the city would not have the fixed costs of maintenance and storage of the equipment and staff overhead. With an outsourced plan, the city could actually fix the problems faster by having multiple vendors work on the projects at the same time.

I call on City Council to organize a task force to look at alternatives to building a large bureaucracy and table the stormwater fees until the force can come up with a plan that will fix the stormwater problems and not drive business out of town. 

The plan thus far has been thrown together piecemeal and does not take into account the unintended consequences.

Brett Hayes
Staunton

Dems get some blame for fees

Bob Dickerman, my friend from the "liberal Democrat" side of the local political scene, was quick to criticize our local Republican representatives in his July 24 letter to the editor about the state's abusive driver fees and the exclusion of out-of-state drivers.

Mr. Dickerman mentioned our local Republican delegates but, like many in the local media, Bob fails to mention that, in fact, it was our Democratic governor, Tim Kaine, who removed the out-of-state drivers from this legislation.

It appears Bob favors a tax increase by suggesting that the state use "the very efficient gasoline-tax system to raise revenue" instead of going after dangerous Virginia drivers to help finance transportation projects.

Some have said that these fines/fees are "unfair to lower-income drivers." What is a "fair" fine/fee for the reckless driver who runs the family of four off the highway or the habitual drunken driver who does the same- Fine and impose fees on these drivers before raising fuel taxes on all.

Democratic state Senate candidate David Cox stated at a recent town hall meeting: "The fees are contradictory. For the state to raise the money expected, Virginia drivers must continue to speed on the highways. Should motorists improve their driving habits, then the fee system would prove to be an unreliable funding source."

We should be so lucky. If we could improve or correct dangerous driving habits and use the revenue generated for transportation projects, we are looking at a win-win situation. If revenue drops, let's then look at wasteful state spending or other sources for funds before raising our taxes at every opportunity as my friends from the left advocate.

Steve Kijak
Stuarts Draft