Fairfax Board Approves Silver Line Bonds

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors authorized the final sale of $54 million in bonds Tuesday that will help pay for the first phase of the Dulles Metrorail project.

The bonds, sold through the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, help complete the Dulles Phase 1 Tax District’s $400 million obligation for the first part of the Silver Line.

The Phase 1 Tax District was created in 2004 to help foot Fairfax County's $467 million bill for the first half of the project.

Landowners in the district voluntarily pay a rate of 22 cents per $100 of assessed value.

Tax revenue collected from the tax district since 2005 totals $94 million; bonds sold in 2011 brought in $220 million. That funding, along with this recent bond sale and future tax collected from the district, will round out the district's $400 million obligation for the first phase, county officials said Tuesday.

The Phase 1 district is one of two special tax districts that will pay for 80 percent—$730 million—of the $900 to $965 million price tag for both phases of Silver Line construction.

The Phase 2 tax district will contribute $330 million, county officials said.

Phase 2 received the green light earlier this year and will run from Wiehle Avenue in Reston to Dulles International Airport and beyond to Route 772 in Loudoun County. Phase 1—which runs from Tysons Corner to Wiehle Avenue—is currently under construction and could be completed by early 2014.