Special Tax Districts for City Schools?

Special tax districts to build public schools?

Photo credit: WAVY TV

Chesapeake Councilwoman Debbie Ritter has a crazy idea — why not let Chesapeake create special districts that allow property owners to tax themselves to fund school improvements in their district? Virginia localities can set up special tax districts to pay for utilities, transportation improvements, and even sand dredging, why not schools?

Here is her logic, as laid out by the Virginian-Pilot:

Ritter said she is requesting the change so the city has a way to pay for schools in the currently undeveloped Dominion Boulevard area off U.S. 17. The city is set to vote this month on the Dominion Boulevard Corridor Study, which maps out future land use on about 10,000 acres around Dominion Boulevard South, from the new Veterans Bridge south to the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The tentative plan notes that new elementary and middle schools may be needed.

Ritter said she would “never consider imposing an additional tax on an already developed area of the city.”

“If you live in an area now, you will not be asked to be a part of the special taxing district,” Ritter said. What the city needs is a way to fund new infrastructure around the corridor “without imposing that on current residents and businesses.”

Interesting issue. As an abstract principle, I support the idea of letting people tax themselves for public projects they want — it beats dipping into public coffers and asking other taxpayers to share the cost. As a bonus under Ritter’s plan, the people of the Dismal Swamp area of Chesapeake might get their school built far more quickly than if they had to wait for the city to scrounge up the funds or issue city-wide bonds, which city-wide voters might reject.

But there is a potential downside. I can also envision a scenario in which affluent neighborhoods vote to tax themselves for new or renovated schools, then vote down city- or county-wide funding initiatives. Poor neighborhoods would be the losers.

— JAB