Volokh conspirator David Bernstein writes that Virginia authorities are absolutely rolling in money given the DC area's dramatic runup in housing prices and the corresponding runup in property taxes. And that they are, of course, wasting it in ways that will come home to roost if the market ever drops.
Been there, done that. California went through this exact thing in the 1970's. Beginning in 1974, there was a boom real estate market in California. Between 1974 and 1976 the appraised value of my family's house doubled, as did many others. Property taxes were annually reassessed, and also doubled. Retired folks with fixed incomes and paid-off mortgages were hit hard, and everyone was complaining about the tax bill. Meanwhile, the Jerry Brown administration was considering a satellite launch.
Enter Howard Jarvis, Paul Gann and Proposition 13. Of course, by the time it passed, governments had internalized the boom year income stream and had a very hard time going back to their previous level of income. It would have happened anyway (e.g. the recession of 81-83), but with the 1% tax cap and the reassessment rollback, the government had to trim or run deficits -- they couldn't just raise taxes. They chose deficits, of course.
Wouldn't surprise me if we see more Prop 13s soon in places like Virginia.