Fairfax County may need to offer a loan to help pay for the second half of the Dulles Rail project, according to a report from county staff.
County officials are prepared to help the rail line cover its costs should revenues from a western Fairfax tax district grow slower than expected and the project runs into financing difficulties. Under the plan, which remains a far-off contingency, the county would be paid back through the commercial tax revenues.
The funding option appears to contradict the assertion of county and project officials that Fairfax’s financial contribution would be limited to special tax districts approved by affected landowners.
The estimated $5.2 billion, 23-mile rail project is funded through two such districts, a $900 million federal appropriation and proceeds from the Dulles Toll Road.
Commercial landowners in the path of the second leg of Dulles Rail recently agreed to tax themselves to fund three western Fairfax County stations. The new district is expected to raise $330 million. It will initially charge landowners five cents per $100 of property value, increasing to 20 cents by 2013.
But without “a history of tax collections and a buildup of substantial reserves,” the financing for the second phase of Dulles Rail could be more difficult than the first, and could initially require a county loan, according to a report prepared by Fairfax County staff at the request of Supervisor Pat Herrity.
“There might come a time early in the game when they need help covering their costs,” county spokeswoman Merni Fitzgerald said. “And if that’s the case, this is an option that the county could do so, but there would be a guarantee to the county for any money we would provide.”
“Nobody knows” whether the loan will be necessary, said Lee Fifer, a lawyer who represented a coalition of landowners who agreed to the tax district. “It’s a matter of when they go forward, how much money they’ve got in the bank at the time, what the cash demands are at the time,” Fifer said.
