In the complicated scheme of Metro’s multi-jurisdictional funding, there are some counties in Maryland and Virginia that we could term “freeloaders.” They’re the transit equivalent of the roommates that never pay for the beer but have no trouble drinking it. Let’s call them Anne, Howard, William and Loudoun.

Metro’s Board of Directors yesterday expressed its annoyance that Anne, Howard, William and Loudoun, which add 73,500 daily riders to the already congested system, aren’t paying their way. If anything, they’re jumping in on the millions paid by the District and the inner-ring of suburbs in Virginia and Maryland. But NBC 4 reports that it was William that got the strongest tongue-lashing, because it was he who recently killed a measure in the Virginia General Assembly to raise the state’s sales tax by a quarter cent so as to provide Metro with a dedicated source of funding and, most importantly, access to $1.5 billion in federal funding proposed by Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.).

So now Metro’s board is writing William a letter, a “Pay up, Cheapskate!” sort of note you pin on the refrigirator early in the morning before the roomie wakes up. The members of the board have even considered more creative measures, including sending William a $5 million bill or handing out flyers on trains and buses informing commuters what a cheapskate William is being.

And if that doesn’t work, they haven’t ruled out flaming bags of dog poo.

For those of you not getting the reference above, William is Prince William County, whose representative in the General Assembly killed the small sales tax hike twice. Picture snapped by edwardaggie98.