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Board hits budget impasse
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors hit an impasse on Tuesday as talks broke down over the tax rate for the coming year.
The board must vote Tuesday to advertise a public hearing for the tax rate. The advertisement must include the maximum real estate tax rate that the supervisors will consider. The board can then adopt a lower tax rate than what they advertised, but they can't adopt a rate that is higher.
The problem is, the supervisors can't agree on what to advertise. Last week, County Executive Craig Gerhart submitted the first draft of the coming year's budget. That budget was based on a tax rate of $1.012 per $100 of assessed value and would make the average homeowner's real estate tax bill rise by about $258 per year – roughly 8 percent.
On Tuesday, Budget Director Dave Tyrar suggested that the supervisors advertise a rate of $1.032, which he said would give them wiggle room as they work out a budget. That rate would mean that the average real estate tax bill would increase by about 10 percent.
However, Gainesville Supervisor John Stirrup (R) asked for a rate of 96.8 cents, which Chairman Corey Stewart (R) said would keep real estate tax bills level with inflation. At that rate, supervisors would have to cut as much as $20 million out of the proposed budget, but it would significantly lessen the burden on homeowners in a struggling economy.
The supervisors first rejected Stirrup's 96.8-cent proposal. Then they rejected Woodbridge Supervisor Frank Principi's (D) motion to approve the $1.032 rate. Then they voted down a compromise measure by Brentsville Supervisor Wally Covington (R), who suggested they set the rate at 99 cents.
After the third straight failure, they moved on to other matters, went into closed session to discuss an unrelated issue and then took another stab at it.
This time, Dumfries Supervisor Maureen Caddigan (R) asked the supervisors to just adopt the $1.021 rate that Gerhart had suggested last week. That too, failed.
After that, the supervisors agreed on a three-hour dinner break and said they would take up the matter once again when they reconvene at 7:30 p.m.
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