HENRICO COUNTY, Va - On election day, voters in Henrico will vote whether or not county officials can borrow more than $400 million to pay for 26 projects across the county.
The bond referendum questions deal with five project areas: school renovations, parks and recreation upgrades, a road widening project, a library overhaul, and fire station construction.
The projects recommended with the bond referendum would provide new and upgraded facilities in all five magisterial districts.
Officials said that school projects are proposed to be funded over a five-year period, while the others would be funded over six years.
County leaders said they can pay back the debts without raising the county real estate tax.
Henrico County Manager Jon Vithoulkas said that meals tax and tourism revenues have come back higher than they projected over the past few years. Leaders are confident that those revenues, coupled with the county’s AAA bond rating, will help pay off the debts without raising taxes over the next five to six years, Vithoulkas said.
"We're incredibly conservative when it comes to how we project revenues. You're not going to see Henrico County have budget shortfalls and budget deficits,” he said.
Ultimately, county leaders said state laws require voter approval to take out capital bonds, so Henrico voters will see five questions on the back of their ballot, which coincide directly with these five project areas.
- $272.6 million for schools projects
- $87.1 million for parks projects
- $24 million for libraries projects
- $22.1 million for fire stations and facilities projects
- $14 million for roads projects
Vithoulkas said the driving force behind this year’s bond referendums was the school projects.
The eight Henrico schools which would be renovated are an average of 57 years old, county leaders said.
To learn more about Henrico’s bond referendum,click here.
To learn more about general obligation bonds, click here.
To see what your sample ballot looks like, click here
