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Parks pinch
itax rolls
Z To the Editor: • Proponents of the bond questions 1 on the ballot next month are telling Z U8 the capital projects represent Z critical needs. They also tell us that « incurring the debt now will stimu• late the economy. These claims are Z not completely true. • . The parks and recreation issue Z includes $37 million for the acquisiZ tionofland. Incurring taxpayer debt 5 for the purchase of additional public - land will do practically nothing to ■i stimulate the economy and there is 5 no critical need in Virginia to acquire J more public land. 2 Purchasing land now will simply • take money out of the pockets of tax•> payers and enrich a few select landZ owners at a time when revenues are Z short. . .at a time when state em2 ployee and faculty salaries have » been essentially ignored. Z Virginia is “blessed” with an • abundance of public lands. Virginia Z is one of three states east of the Misti sissippi that has well over two milZ hon acres of federal land and well ■ over 100,000 acres of state parks and jj state forests. In addition there are Z many thousands of acres owned by Z county and city governments. m Taxpayers should be well aware Z of the fact that every parcel of real Z estate removed from the private Z property tax rolls creates a double » cost ior some. Along with paying the Z principle and interest for the public "Zland purchase, property owners will
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