Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
PW budget proposed
County Executive Craig Gerhart introduced the coming year's budget on Tuesday, proposing a fiscal plan that increases real estate tax bills by about 8 percent and adding in only two new high-profile initiatives: fire and rescue safety and illegal immigration enforcement.The budget, which will be revised and approved later this spring, features $6.4 million for immigration enforcement and $3.8 million for safety improvements for fire and rescue workers.
The tight budget proposal is based on the fact that the county has seen a 16 percent decrease in the value of residential properties in the last year. The total budget is more than $923 million and the Prince William school system will get more than $453 million of that, leaving just under $470 million for the county government. Under Gerhart's proposal, the real estate tax rate would rise from 78.7 cents to $1.01 per $100 of assessed value, which would translate to an increase of a real estate tax increase of $258 for the average homeowner. That figure does not include the cost of the various levies and fees that are also assessed on homes.
The so-called line-of-duty death recommendations are the first of the two major initiatives. Last April, firefighter Kyle Wilson was killed while battling a fire in eastern Prince William. A lengthy investigation into Wilson's death found that the safety of firefighters is jeopardized unnecessarily because of problems with training, staffing, communications, technology and procedures.
A list of recommendations were developed to help ensure the safety of firefighters. Implementing those plans is expected to cost $3.8 million in the coming year and $49.3 million over the next five years but Gerhart said it is “a moral imperative.”
“Saying 'we just can't afford it' is not an acceptable response,” he said.
The other major new initiative is illegal immigration enforcement. The total cost of enforcement is expected to be $6.4 million in the coming year an $25.9 million over the next five years. That includes the money already allocated for the Police Department's Criminal Alien Unit and the cost of detaining illegal immigrants at the Adult Detention Center or at other facilities. It also includes money for video cameras in police cars and for foster care costs.
The cameras will be necessary to combat accusations of racial profiling that will almost certainly materialize after the immigration enforcement program begins next week, Gerhart said. Cameras will protect individual officers and the county from unfounded charges and lawsuits. The foster care money – about $319,000 will be necessary to provide for children here legally once their parents are detained or deported.
In addition to the two major items, the budget includes another $20.6 million in new spending that mostly covers rising costs, promised expenditures and salary hikes for some staffers.
County employees will not get a cost-of-living pay raise this year. Rather, the county executive has set aside $4.1 million for pay-for-performance raises. If all of the 4,000 or so county employees were to get a raise, the pay increase would work out to an average of 3 percent. However, not all employees are eligible for pay-for-performance raises and staffers estimated that only about 90 percent of those who are eligible would receive one under the merit-based system. Some of those would get more and some would get less than 3 percent.
Also included in the $20.6 million in new spending are additional officers for the Department of Fire and Rescue and the Police Department. Under the spending plan, the Department of Fire and Rescue would get 26 new uniform employees next year at a cost of $4.4 million. Over the next five years, the total number would increase by 139 uniform officers and nine civilians for a total of $42.1 million
The Police Department is slated to get 25 new officers and four civilians in the coming year – a $3.8 million expenditure. Altogether the board plans to add 125 officers and 20 civilians over the next five years for $48.1 million.
For the most part, those spending increases are covered by a $19.6-million “scrub” of the budget; the county saved more than $18 million over last year's budget, mostly because the one-time costs associated with creating new positions had already been paid last year. In addition, money was saved in energy costs and health insurance and the board will likely opt not to fund the county's Community Health Center next year. An additional $1.3 million in state and federal revenue was also received, which is included in the $19.6 million that is helping to offset the costs of new spending.
Several supervisors asked Tuesday how much would have to be cut from the budget in order to reduce homeowners' taxes. Gerhart responded that every penny off the tax rate would drop the average real estate tax bill increase by 1 percent and would cost the county $5.2 million. Thus, he explained, the proposed tax rate is $1.01 and will cause the average real estate tax bill to rise by 8 percent. If supervisors cut spending by $5.2 million, the tax rate could be cut to $1 and the average real estate tax bill would rise only 7 percent.
A public hearing on the budget will be held on Monday, April 7, at 7:30 p.m. in the Board Chambers at the McCoart Building. The entire budget is listed online at www.pwcgov.org/budget.
You must be logged in to post a comment.