The past couple of weeks have been filled with high profile news story regarding Loudoun County that will have an impact on real estate and homeowners. There are plenty of big headlines that look pretty impressive (but really aren't) and a some others that don't seem all that impressive but really. Let's take a look.
Raytheon to consolidate 1,500 jobs in Loudoun County.
This looks pretty impressive on the surface. And some other reports put the number of jobs at 2000. But a closer look shows that Raytheon is consolidating 3 offices in Fairfax County and moving them all to the AOL campus that has been shedding jobs for years. The real story is that only 100 new jobs will be created over the next 3 years. Although we like to get any new jobs in the current environment, the headlines are very misleading. 33 new jobs a year is barely a blip on the radar.
Loudoun County Tax Rate Increased to $1.245.
Now this was definitely news and has been for some time. We all anticipated the increase but we didn't know how high it would be. Initially the county officials were asking for $1.29 so it could have been worse. But it is still the highest rate in the state. But the interesting thing I take from this story is the bi-partisan atmosphere the budget created. Read the comments section to the post and you will see what I mean. And this is not just for our county, it is state wide, country wide and a huge bi-partisan issue in our federal government. The election of President Obama was initially hailed as a vote for partisanship but that has never happened and in fact the partisanship in America is worse, if you ask me.
Case in point is this piece of news that has flown below the radar - N.Va. snubbed in first round of road funding The fact that Northern Virginia doesn't get the lions share of any funding for transportation is beyond me. We only contribute the majority of the tax dollars that fund the rest of the state but when we need money to help with our roads, we get nothing. Pretty amazing. Politicians at work. But I guess nothing should surprise me since Tim Geithner was a self-confessed tax evader and was rewarded with running the IRS from his position as Treasury Secretary.
While I agree that the story is misleading, I do believe that there are other 'silver linings' at work here. The 1500-2000 folks coming into that area everyday will be a much needed relief factor for some of the businesses in the region - espcially across the street at the Dulles Retail Plaza. Don't get me wrong, i'm not shedding a tear for the Starbucks Corporation, but it is telling that their location there is being closed down.
Another silver lining may be the fact that a small portion of these 1500 folks may be renters in Fairfax (or other location) that decide it's a good time to buy in Loudoun, close to work.
We need everything we can get these days...or so it seems to me.
Posted by: ClickAshburn | April 12, 2009 at 03:39 PM
Great post! It was very well researched and I enjoyed it very much. I bookmarked your site and will be back very soon, I look forward to reading some interesting posts! Thanks, Whitney
Posted by: EasyGrow Greenhouse | April 23, 2009 at 09:46 PM
ClickAshburn, thanks for the comment. You make a lot of good points. The same type of change occured when the telecom companies went under during the dotcom crisis of 2000. Northern Va went through a retrenchment and a lot of telecom workers moved over to the government contractor businesses. And I think that Loudoun is going to benefit from the increase in government spending in the next four years but it won't make the headlines like a Raytheon will. It will fly below the radar and show up in lower inventory levels and slightly higher prices. IMHO.
Thanks for reading, EasyGrow.
Posted by: Tony Arko | April 24, 2009 at 09:05 AM