Providence Candidate Charlie Hall Calls For Town Hall Meetings on the Cost of Dulles Rail

Hall sees threat to County's General Fund and calls on the Board of Supervisors to convene Town Halls to address taxpayer exposure for the escalating costs

Charlie Hall, a candidate for Fairfax County Supervisor, urged the Board of Supervisors to hold a "frank and forthright dialogue" with citizens about the true cost of Tysons/Dulles rail construction, saying the County has exposed taxpayers to an open-ended commitment that could reach hundreds of millions of dollars. Hall, who last week urged Supervisors to stop holding closed-door meetings to discuss the $4 billion Tysons/Dulles rail project, noted that County documents show that the eventual cost to taxpayers was one of the key subjects discussed in the Board's secret sessions.

Noting that the project is the biggest, and most expensive, public works project in Northern Virginia history, Hall said County Supervisors should convene one or more Town Hall meetings to openly discuss escalating costs on the Dulles Metrorail project with citizens.

"Like most Fairfax County citizens, I strongly favor soundly managed public transit, but runaway costs for this project pose a threat to other vital needs, such as schools," Hall said. "It is not enough just to forswear future secret meetings. Our County leaders owe it to the citizens to engage directly in a frank and forthright dialogue with those who will ultimately pay these costs."

In the last two years, the cost of just the Phase I extension of Metro to Wiehle Avenue has ballooned from $1.5 billion to a range of $2.4 to $2.7 billion. Moreover, the federal government and Tysons' landowners have capped their contribution at around $1.3 billion. That means about half of the current price—and all cost over-runs—will be paid by County citizens and toll road commuters.

Hall has been walking the neighborhoods of Providence District for several weeks in his campaign to unseat incumbent Providence District Supervisor Linda Smyth in the June 12 th Democratic primary, and said that the cost of the Metro extension is a topic of widespread concern among the citizens he has met.

Hall said he has taken to carrying a copy of County Executive Anthony Griffin's November 1, 2005, memo to Virginia Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer, promising that Fairfax will "fund its share of increases to the estimated project costs" either from general revenue, using a "pay-as-you-go" approach, or through additional bonds.

"People are worried that they're being treated like a giant piggy bank. This sort of open-ended, undocumented "pay-as-you-go" approach really concerns citizens," said Hall. "Citizens are doing the math. They know that the federal government won't pay more than $900 million and the landowners won't pay more than $400 million. They want to know how much we'll end up paying if the costs continue to escalate."

Hall noted that documents prepared by Griffin before the Board's April 23 closed-door meeting showed that at least some incumbent Supervisors privately share these concerns about costs. According to an April 20 memo from Griffin to the Board, some Supervisors expressed concern in a secret session that "all project cost overruns will be borne by Fairfax County taxpayers (general funds) and the Dulles Toll Road users. And, if Fairfax County also caps its contributions, the entire burden of cost overruns will fall upon Dulles Toll road users."

The document also notes that some Supervisors questioned a decision to split off $230 million in projects away from the main rail contract—including major upgrades to Route 7—to help the rail project meet federal funding standards. According to the memo, County taxpayers would be hit for 16.1 percent of those costs—or about $37 million.

Hall said that citizens need better information on the sources of available funding, the limits of such funding, the ultimate tax exposure of Fairfax taxpayers and Dulles Toll Road users, and the budget impact on schools and other priorities.

"These are very significant cost exposures at a time when Fairfax County is heading into a tough budget period," Hall said. "These are not topics for closed-door discussions. The best way to protect taxpayers is to come out into the open and make the public part of this critical discussion."