Voters’ message to the BOCS

Denise Oppenhagen
Published: November 11, 2008

Last week ... what a week! I wanted Barack Obama to win but did I think it would really happen?  Not until 11:15 on Tuesday evening. You just never know in politics — ask Sen. John McCain, the king of
the comeback kids. It was such an exciting evening. Historic? You betcha.

And McCain. His concession speech was one of the best speeches overall that I’ve ever heard. He was gracious, supportive and encouraging. It was the McCain that I had been familiar with up to this
election. I’m so glad to know that the campaign didn’t change him. If his campaign staff had done him justice, they would have let this John McCain campaign for president. I am confident the election
results would have been closer, if not opposite what they ended up being.

And then the voter turnout.  Wow! As I went to work Tuesday morning, I passed several polling places — all with long lines of people snaking around buildings and parking lots. Everyone waiting to vote. I
went to vote in the early afternoon, wanting to avoid the long lines that I anticipated in the evening. The crush that I thought would be there wasn’t. 

Looking at the Prince William County vote totals took my breath away. Sixty-one percent of the registered voters turned out. In the past we’ve been lucky to get two-thirds of that. And it looked as though
turnout was even in all the precincts. 

On Tuesday night, I was thinking about what to write this week. I thought I would write about mandates or at the very least messages sent by voters to the Board of County Supervisors (BOCS).  Prince
William County voted Democratic. The county is now becoming more competitive for both political parties and hopefully that means choice when the next election rolls around. 

What was striking, however, was looking at election results precinct by precinct. In general, McCain won the precincts in the western end of the county and Obama the eastern end. The message sent to
the BOCS was that our county is split. That shouldn’t come as a surprise. The western end of the county and the eastern end are very different — in age of homes, affluence of residents and availability of
local non-retail employment, among others. This has far-reaching policy implications at the local level. Take the budget shortfall for example. McCain supporters would (as best as I can tell) prefer to look
for additional ways to cut the county budget and try to lower taxes again. Those who support Obama realize that there is a budget shortfall and while some line items can be trimmed, there are some that
shouldn’t be touched — education and public safety being the top two. 

There is going to be a huge difference in the school division’s budget this year. After taking several cuts in previous years, we are now going to need to think about where to make additional cuts.  School
renovations are one item that is usually top on the list. This doesn’t impact the folks on the western end as much as the eastern. The western schools are newer and have many more resources. 

There are some new buildings on the eastern end, but many more that are older and in need of renovation.

What is the solution? People need to stay excited and involved.  The lower tax folks get heard by the BOCS because they are loud and large. The rest of us need to speak up. We need to carry on the
fight for change to the BOCS. We need to make the argument that raising taxes isn’t anti-American; not educating our children and not protecting our streets is.

And it’s going to be a hard sell.  The economy is hitting people hard right now. Foreclosures, layoffs, firings, reduced hours — all impact our county finances. And we haven’t been through the hardest part
yet. Retails stores in our area usually provide a lot of sales tax revenue during the winter holiday season. Predictions are that this won’t be true this year. We need to do something.

We need change. We need creative ideas to address the problem.  And we need everyone to share in the pain — everyone from the millionaire landowner to the poverty-level working class family.  And
that includes the BOCS. When looking at the budget, find things that won’t impact what should be our top priorities: education, public safety and transportation. Consider ideas such as one-day furloughs
for county employees (including the BOCS), eliminating the supervisor slush fund, reducing the reimbursement rate for miles driven, reduce (or eliminate) meal reimbursement. We all need to tighten our
belts and get through this economic situation together. If we need to raise taxes, so be it.  But we need to refocus. We need change.

Denise Oppenhagen is a longtime resident of Prince William County and can be reached at .