Bottom line - I am for lower taxes and feel we are indeed, taxed enough already. I would use my vote on the Board of Supervisors to spend every dollar as if it were my own.
Our government at the national level, under both party’s leadership (or lack of leadership) has gotten out country into a terrible debt crisis. I wrote a letter to the FLS editor that was published on July 24th, 2011 addressing my thoughts on our debt crisis. You can view the letter here
The letter above has received two very liberal responses, one of which can be found at
I’ve written a response to the letter above reminding the writer about the “Power of the Purse” that Congress holds, but as of today, my response has not been published.
Living in Spotsylvania County while I transitioned from being an active duty Marine to a civilian was a great experience, with the exception of learning about just how high our personal property taxes are. In 2009 I bought a Chevy Suburban because we had another child (our sixth). I had saved earnestly to make a nice down payment on this car, and in the end – my personal property taxes per month were greater than my car payment. Ouch!!!
Like most readers, I have also experienced, as a resident of Spotsylvania, my home’s assessed value go up at the exact time the housing market continued to go down. I contested the amount with our County and actually did get a reduction in assessed value – to which I feel is still a price I could not sell my home for.
I write this to let you know that I have personally felt the sting of high taxes and over assessment and can’t believe that every time I fill up car with gas, I’m paying 7 cents a gallon for a VRE station that I would guess near 5 percent of the Courtland district residents will ever see (anyone near route 3 won’t use it).
If elected to represent you on the board of supervisors, I would:
- Pledge to never raise your property or personal property taxes (no-tax pledge). A pledge the Courtland District incumbent was not willing to take in 2006
http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/042006/04102006/180617 and has shown us why with his voting record on tax increases since then.
- Pledge to never vote for any other type of tax increase such as the gas tax that is associated with the Spotsy VRE station. In the case of the VRE vote, I would have pushed to at least give the citizens a vote on it which apparently was attempted by Gary Jackson with Del Mark Cole’s assistance – but died on a 5-2 vote. See http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/082009/08192009/487717
- I would do my very best to look for ways to streamline Spotsylvania’s county government. I would look for efficiencies and economies of scale.
- I would look at our school system’s administrative salaries. I was surprised when the FLS published our county’s Superintendent’s salary and that it was higher than the Secretary of Defense for our Nation!
- I would press for a general property tax cut below the equalization rate which has not occurred since 1975. All of us need tax relief, not additional taxes. I personally feel our taxation rates would make our Founding Fathers extremely displeased.
- I have the knowledge, education, and experience to make this happen. While I served in the Marine Corps, I managed a 60 million dollar reenlistment bonus program and was recognized by the Senate Armed Forces Committee for efficiently running this program while the same committee criticized the Army and Navy’s programs for running inefficiently.
- I would listen to Courtland residents and build a team to make only the soundest financial decisions. I personally, with the exception of my home mortgage, manage a debt free family.
- I would be transparent in all Spotsylvania County proceedings.
I hope you all got through the earth quake with little or no damage to your property. I intend on writing about property rights in my next blog. In the meantime – I could use help in getting the word out.
Please e-mail me at david.ross.7@verizon.net and let me know if you’d like to A: be added to my information distribution list (weekly e-mail that keeps you up to date on the Courtland campaign and progress) or B: be added to a help distribution list – (weekly e-mail that will have information on how you can help me with the Campaign).
I’ve made a firm pledge to not accept any campaign donations – so I need word of mouth to get my message out. I am challenged, in a Republican District to get information out that I am the Candidate that will represent Courtland in the most socially and fiscally conservative manner. Thank you.
David Ross
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