OPINION:
If all an administration did was regulatory reform, it would positively affect economic growth. Very often it is not just the federal government, but state and local governments, too, that drastically increase the cost of living and lower the quality of life for their residents.
Here is an example of state and local regulation gone berserk in Fairfax County, Virginia. If you are a homeowner, you are probably aware of deteriorating concrete sidewalks, skirts, curbs and driveway aprons that border your property. Recall the daily claim by the politicians that this infrastructure is falling apart and we need to increase taxes to fix it. Well, here is what happens when a homeowner volunteers their own time and money to fix it. In Arlington if you want to pay for a replacement of a driveway apron, you write a check to Arlington for $750 plus $75 for each additional foot of width, and in several months a municipal contractor shows up and does the job.
In Fairfax County the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) controls what happens, if anything, to that same apron. VDOT refuses to use any of their pre-approved contractors for the work, whether the homeowner volunteers to pay or not. The permitting process is so arduous few contractors even want to do this type of work when solicited by the homeowner. Additionally VDOT requires the posting of a $10,000 bond directly by the homeowner; you can write a check to VDOT, or involve a surety company if you can find one.
So what is the bottom line for Fairfax County? If you can find a contractor willing to do the work, you are willing to write a check for $10,000 to VDOT and you actually get VDOT to approve the work, it will cost you $5,000 to fix your apron (this is the contractor minimum).
So there you have it: $5,000 in Fairfax and $750 in Arlington. With this kind of disparity, power, greed and stupidity cannot be far away. No doubt VDOT will be lobbying for more money to fix infrastructure and expand its fiefdom in the next state budget. And the left wonders why Donald Trump got elected.
SAMUEL BURKEEN
Reston, Va.
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