Pr. William supervisors deadlocked over proposed real estate tax increase
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Version 0 of 1. Prince William County soon will have an official government budget for the next fiscal year. But it isn’t yet clear what that spending plan will look like. Acting County Executive Christopher E. Martino proposed a $2.9 billion budget Feb. 16 that would increase residential real estate tax bills by nearly 4 percent. The average increase would be $145, or $12.09 per month on a mortgage, to an annual total of $3,877. The real estate tax rate would rise to $1.145 from the current $1.122 per $100 of assessed value. The $1.145 proposal is the highest possible rate that the Board of County Supervisors can approve for the fiscal year that begins July 1. It also would follow budget-writing guidelines that supervisors approved in December, which called for a 3.9 percent hike in the average homeowner tax bill for each of the next five years. Four of the eight supervisors objected to increasing tax bills by that amount over such a long time. They said they are concerned about the financial burden it could place on constituents. The other four supervisors are focused on the need to fund the increasing infrastructure requirements of the growing jurisdiction, Supervisor Frank J. Principi (D-Woodbridge) said last week. The result has been a standoff over government services, and how much to ask property owners to pay for them. The supervisors are scheduled to approve a budget and tax rate April 19, and board Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R-At Large) said it is his job to lead his colleagues to some kind of consensus. He supports a tax rate that is lower than what Martino proposed, and he has been joined by board Vice Chairman Pete K. Candland (R-Gainesville) and Supervisors Ruth M. Anderson (R-Occoquan) and Jeanine M. Lawson (R-Brentsville). Principi and Supervisors Maureen S. Caddigan (R-Potomac), John D. Jenkins (D-Neabsco) and Martin E. Nohe (R-Coles) favor using Martino’s suggested tax rate. Stewart said that budget cuts will be necessary to keep the rate lower and that they will not all be pleasant. Local funding for Prince William schools ($533.3 million in Martino’s proposal) may have to be trimmed, he said, and so might the $5.9 million that would go to 3 percent merit pay raises for county employees. On the latter, Stewart said, “Nobody’s going to say that except for me, and that is for the record.” The chairman, however, said that 49 new fire-and-rescue positions included in Martino’s proposal should be maintained because keeping county residents safe is the supervisors’ first obligation. Candland said he and his peers will have to figure out if there is any middle ground to be reached. He pointed out that he has suggested tax rates that did not increase the average homeowner bill quite as much as 3.9 percent. They failed to gain traction, but he said they were at least a stab at a compromise, which is more than he saw from the other side. “It seems like it’s going to be a long, drawn-out debate,” Candland said. He said he believes the county taxes residents too much in general, and he pointed out that Prince William usually has money left over at the end of each budget year, including a $24.3 million projected surplus from the current fiscal year. Principi, however, said he does not consider the alternatives pushed by Candland’s side to be good-faith attempts at compromising. With a population of more than 400,000, Prince William continues to grow, which means it is facing infrastructure problems such as traffic congestion, crowded classrooms and a need for more fire stations, Principi said. “So we’ve got some real issues that we’ve got to deal with,” he said. Addressing those issues will require the “political will, political backbone” to raise revenue to pay for fixes, Principi said. Anderson said she is worried about how a tax increase could affect county residents on fixed incomes, or households with a stay-at-home parent. She proposes keeping the tax rate at the current $1.122 per $100 of assessed value, which could still mean a tax bill increase for anyone whose property went up in value with the most recent county assessment. Anderson also said that being wary of rising taxes doesn’t mean she doesn’t want to properly serve county residents. For example, she said, “I definitely want to be proud of our schools.” School officials are scheduled to brief the supervisors Tuesday on their budget plans, and Caddigan said she hopes to learn then how much state funding will go to education in Prince William. That could decrease the amount that has to come from local taxes. But on budget matters overall, she said, “We all have to give a little.” |