MAUD ROBINSON, Vienna Town Council:
"It is a political response to a problem that requires we rise above politics. The whole state has a fiscal problem. I don't think any way to address it is to take our state and part ways.
"If Northern Virginia was to become its own little fiefdom, the Dillon rule would be the first thing out the window.
"It's very possible the power of small towns, like Vienna, would diminish. If you put a lot of fish in a pond, the fat ones get fatter and the small ones die.
"I don't think you ever solve things by walking away from them. You solve things by working together."
VINCENT OLSON, Vienna Town Council:
"It wouldn't necessarily change Vienna at all, depending on the structure of the government.
"In concept, you have x number of officers to cover the whole state. It would shrink, but it wouldn't have to change in any other way. We would still need county and Vienna police."
JEANNEMARIE DEVOLITES (R-35), state delegate
"We wouldn't have to pay as much in taxes because we wouldn't have to give as much away.
“The formula for funding school construction in Northern Virginia requires that we pay 500 percent more than the actual cost of a project.
"We have to pay 500 percent because we give 400 percent away to the rest of the state.
"With funding formulas as they are, Fairfax gets practically nothing. In order to eliminate the disparity, we have to keep giving and giving. And there is also a reverse disparity. Every time we come to the table and ask for something for us, they say no."
At the next general assembly session, some Northern Virginia delegates will introduce legislation to change the composite index for funding.
"When you are one state, you've got to make sure all the other parts are succeeding. You don't mind if you have to do some revenue sharing because, in the long run, it will help you."
"We're clearly better off as we are now, being able to help. But when do we get to the point where those rural areas can sustain themselves?
"It would devastate the rest of the commonwealth. Realistically, to accomplish that goal [of a separate state] would be possible, but it would be a slim possibility at best. The last time states tried to secede, it resulted in a war.
"When you establish a new state, it would be a fresh opportunity to look at duplication of services. It is very nebulous where the state responsibility ends and the local responsibility begins.
"If we became a state, I would recommend that Fairfax be divided into two or three counties. The county has become so large that it is difficult to provide services, particularly health and human services. You can provide services much better when you are small and homogeneous."