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Board prepares to finalize budget
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors will get one more crack at the county budget next week as they decide on final changes before they adopt a spending plan on April 28.The supervisors are looking at steep cuts under any circumstances but the question they will decide next week is whether they should provide more tax relief or more services.
The proposed budget is based on a a tax rate of $1.198 per $100 of assessed value. At that rate, the average homeowner would see a tax bill decrease of $548, or 16 percent.
However, that tax relief comes at the expense of services.
Under the county's original budget proposal, there will be no salary increases for employees and the county will scale back its contributions to the employee retirement plan. There will also be no signing bonuses for new police, fire or rescue workers.
All libraries will remain open but the neighborhood libraries will cut back their hours to 40 per week. Cuts will also be made to the Cooperative Extension and Department of Social Services and the county's Office on Youth will be eliminated.
Altogether, the county will cut $17.2 million from general government, community development, human services and public safety.
The board has the option to set the tax rate as high as $1.212 per $100 of assessed value. That would bring in an additional $2.7 million, plus approximately $3 million more for schools. At that rate, the average residential tax bill will decrease by 12.7 percent – about $435, and supervisors can keep some programs and employees that would otherwise be cut.
The problem, said Chairman Corey Stewart (R), is that residents want it both ways. “Cut my taxes but don't cut this program,” he said.
But regardless of which tax rate they adopt, several programs will likely get a boost.
Since the budget proposal was introduced several months ago, a changing financial situation means the county has several hundred thousand dollars that officials didn't expect. County Executive Craig Gerhart has recommended that the extra money be used for the Cooperative Extension and for the Department of Social Services.
Gerhart is seeking to restore funding for the Cooperative Extension's 4-H program and parenting classes. However, those funds may come at the expense of the Cooperative Extension's nutrition program and Neabsco Supervisor John Jenkins (D) made it clear on Tuesday that he intends to fight any attempt to strip the nutrition program of its $29,000 in county funds.
The Department of Social Services is also hurting and Gerhart's staff is recommending the department receive some relief from budget cuts. The staff recommends that DSS receive $334,000 in additional funds.
Assistant County Executive Melissa Peacor said the department received 1,173 requests for assistance in March 2009, up from 717 a year ago. Medicaid applications have been on the rise too; from 608 in March 2008 to 797 in March 2009.
“The demand for assistance has skyrocketed,” she said. “It's almost a bottomless hole that you could put money into.”
The police department is also likely to get some extra money. The county has applied for federal economic stimulus money that would allow 25 additional police officers to be hired. Those officers were expected to be hired two years from now but if the stimulus application is approved, the positions could come online immediately.
The new positions would cost the county $1.8 million right away because the federal funds will cover only a part of their salaries; the county would have to pay for the rest of their salaries plus their training and equipment. Since the board was planning on hiring those officers eventually anyway, picking them up immediately will mean more money is needed now, but it won't cost the county any more in the long run.
Though it is unclear what else supervisor will do, it does appear as though funding those police officers will be a priority.
And under either tax rate, homeowners will get a break.
“No matter what we do when we finally adopt this budget, the average homeowner ... will receive a fairly substantial tax decrease,” Stewart said.
On April 21, each supervisor will propose changes to the budget, adding in funds for some programs and cutting from others. The board members will likely take straw votes for each proposal and the end result will be a budget and tax rate that they will formally adopt on April 28.
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