Fairfax County bond sale to help pay for Silver Line parking garages The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors this month cleared the way for the possible sale of $155 million in bonds to help pay for parking garages at two Silver Line stations to be built as part of the rail line's second phase. Fairfax officials agreed to build the garages as part of an agreement brokered by former U.S. transportation secretary Ray LaHood that reduced the cost of the $5.6 billion Silver Line's second phase. As part of the deal, Fairfax and Loudoun counties agreed to find private partners to help pay for five parking garages - two in Fairfax and three in Loudoun. The garage at Wiehle-Reston East Metro station, currently last stop on the Silver Line, was built through a private-public partnership. Under the plan approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, the county's Economic Development Authority would issue revenue bonds, the proceeds of which would be loaned to the county. The county would repay the bonds with money generated from parking fees. Fairfax officials said the Herndon garage will cost roughly $58 million and the Innovation Center garage, $57 million. Officials estimate they will receive $10 million a year in parking revenue, which also would pay for upkeep at the garages. "I am pleased that Fairfax County will own and operate these garages and collect revenue from parking," Board Chairwoman Sharon Bulova (D) said in a news release. This financing structure reduces the overall cost of Phase II of the Silver Line by using parking fees, instead of general fund tax dollars. Under its agreement with Metro, the county will set the fees charged at the three county-owned Silver Line garages: Wiehle-Reston East, Herndon and Innovation. Under a program established in the 1980s, Metro transfers a portion of the parking revenue it collects from garages in Fairfax, plus the East Falls Church and Van Dorn station garages, to the county.