|
|||||||||||||
Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (0)
Tax rate capped at $1.215
If all goes as planned, Prince William real estate tax bills will stay about the same in the coming year.On Tuesday, the Board of County Supervisors voted to cap the real estate tax rate at $1.215 per $100 of assessed value. From here on out, they could set the rate lower, but not higher.
“It is a flat tax bill in real dollars when adjusted for inflation,” said budget director Michelle Casciato.
In practical terms, the average homeowner will see an increase of $9.17 per month – $110 per year.
The inflation factor allows supervisors to consider that “flat.”
At that rate, supervisors will be able to provide a 3-percent merit pay raise for county employees next year, followed by a 2-percent across-the-board increase the following year. Those two types of increases will alternate each year for the next five.
The raises only apply to county government employees, however. County teachers have already been told they won't see raises in the next five years.
That's due in part to a $10.8 million cut in state funding to schools for the coming year alone.
Teachers have been protesting the state cuts and also asking the board to make up the difference with county funds.
But with Tuesday's vote to cap the tax rate at $1.215, supervisors indicated they'll do no such thing. In order to give more to schools, they'd have had to set the tax rate higher.
Supervisor Maureen Caddigan (R-Potomac), a staunch supporter of the school system, said local governments can't keep raising taxes to make up for state cuts.
“If we do the work of the state, they're just going to push it back more and more on us,” she said.
Casciato and County Executive Melissa Peacor told supervisors that 49 percent of the school budget comes from the county government – mostly from real estate taxes. The other 51 percent comes from state and federal funding – mostly state.
Peacor said county officials had given the School Board an estimate of how much the county will provide in the coming year – based on the assumed tax rate and real estate assessments.
With the $1.215 tax rate, the county is keeping its promise, she said.
“What the county said it would provide to the schools this year, the county has provided, minus $1 million,” she said, reiterating that all of the school cuts are coming from state and federal shortfalls.
All except that $1 million. Woodbridge Supervisor Frank Principi (D) tried to cover that gap by asking supervisors to cap the tax rate instead at $1.218. The additional three-tenths of a penny would give the schools the extra $1 million they had expected from the county.
His motion failed, however, as he was the only one to vote in favor of it.
The new Gainesville supervisor, Peter Candland (R), went in the other direction. While he didn't call for a formal vote, he said the tax rate should be much lower – $1.175 per $100 of assessed value.
At that rate, the average tax bill would not rise at all – even once inflation is factored. Some individual homeowners would still see increases and some would see tax cuts.
“Prince William families are continuing to feel the pinch,” said Candland. “I think it's time that we do the right thing, not the easy thing.”
Casciato called that scenario “devastating,” saying it could cost schools $9.8 million and the county $7.4 million in the coming year alone. Over the next five years, it would leave a $316 million hole in county services and education, she said, adding “You would be reducing the size of county government by one-third.”
There seems to be little support for that among the board members.
Several made the point with leading questions that the $1.215 rate was proposed because supervisors had unanimously decided that the budget draft should be based on the $1.215 flat tax bill.
In the end, six supervisors voted in favor of the $1.215 rate with only Candland and Chairman Corey Stewart (R) voting against it. Stewart did not voice his opinion on the matter.
The vote essentially caps the tax rate but it also sets up a public hearing, which will be held on March 29. A final vote on the budget is scheduled for April 24.
You must be logged in to post a comment.