While I’m on the subject of government debt: Caroline County on its way to being $108,621,556 in debt.

That’s $4,090.13 of debt per citizen.

On June 30, 2008, the county was $92,630,740 in debt with $58,366,658 of that debt being principal and $34,264,082 being the interest.

50.579% ($46,851,746) of the debt was general government related while 49.420% ($45,778,993) was school related.

The county is in the process of refinancing some school related debt via the Virginia Public School Authority (VPSA) as well as borrowing more money for capital improvement projects (more on those projects below). With the new and restructured debt, the county would then be $108,621,556 in debt and the county wouldn’t finish paying off that debt until 2034.

All this debt would push the county to their established maximum debt policy ceiling (which is 12% of total general fund expenditures and school expenditures) for the 2010 and 2011 fiscal years. They would be close to the maximum debt policy ceiling for the 2012 fiscal year as well.

And remember the county is (supposedly) seriously considering borrowing another $4,500,000 next year to expand the County Park at Milford. The county still lacks a public safety building, a new school for the Bowling Green area, as well as a public works workshop. That’s what we call “priorities” folks.

Here are the projects that are being borrowed for this fiscal year, along with some editorial comments:

• North Anna Boat Access — $50,000 — Wasn’t the State Fair of Virginia supposed to be paying for this as part of their proffer agreement?
• Dawn Library — $765,000 — The Dawn Library has been in the works for a couple years but it could have probably have waited. Some of the costs for the library were reduced due to the fact that Maxie Rozell donated land for construction.
• Welcome Signs — $40,000 — We have a massive budget deficit and they want to borrow money for welcome signs? What the heck…
• County Park — $70,000 — We all know how Percy Ashcraft is obsessed with parks…
• Farmer Mini Park – B.G. — $75,000 — Again…
• Dawn Mini Park — $25,000 — And again…
• Ladysmith Convenience Site Expansion — $100,000 — Needed from what I understand.
• Radio System — $60,000 — Needed.
• EMS Equip CC Ambulance #1 — $54,000 — Not needed. This item is supposed to be equipment for an ambulance running out of the proposed Carmel Church Fire Station. All the other equipment — including the station itself — were removed from the budget except for this item. I even e-mail Percy Ashcraft telling him this item shouldn’t be in the budget several months ago; good to see he’s paying attention.
• Replacement Defibrillators — $31,164 — Needed, presumably.
• Ladysmith VRS – Replace Unit #229 — $120,000 — Needed, presumably.
• Frog Level VRS Generator — $42,500 — The rescue chief wanted his leaking roof fixed but instead he’s getting a generator!
• BG VFD Replacement Air Compressor – Squad 1 — $17,000 — Needed, presumably.
• Ladysmith Fire Truck — $39,678 — That amount is only to finish paying for the truck. The rest was paid for in the previous fiscal year. I bet the fine folks in Port Royal wish they would get a new truck since theirs was supposed to be replace 10 years ago.
• Police Vehicle/Equipment — $464,100 — Needed, presumably.
• Upgrade Sound System CCCSC — $95,000 — Needed, but that’s a lot of money.
• Roll-Off Truck Replacement #2 — $140,000 — Not a 100% sure what this is. :)
• Replace Compactor/Dawn — $24,000.
• Replace Compactor Caroline High School — $20,000.
• Clerk Computer System — $47,000 — A grant from the Virginia government was originally supposed to pay for this but I doubt that’s going to happen now with all the state budget cuts.
• Circuit Court Security Area Modifications — $61,593 — Needed badly to improve security in the holding cells. Remember the Circuit Court deals with felons, folks.
• IT Budget — $140,000 — Maybe they will fix the county’s terrible e-mail server.
• Roll off Truck — $135,000.
• 116 units from Municipal Emergency Services — $535,106

Total: $3,151,141

Source: All these numbers are from the Caroline County, Virginia Capital Fund Analysis dated September 23, 2008, prepared by Davenport & Company LLC.