At the request of the Board of County Supervisors, County Executive Melissa Peacor presented the Prince William County FY(fiscal year) 2015 proposed budget and the FY15-19 five-year proposed budget at the supervisor's Feb. 18 meeting.
The county executive’s budget is a suggested one prepared at the request of the supervisors and applying their recommended tax rate. Next week, the supervisors will decide on the advertised tax rate. An advertised tax rate cannot be increased, but can always be decreased should the supervisors decide to do so.
The FY15 proposed budget is balanced at a tax rate of $1.216 per $100 of assessed value. That is a 2.5 percent increase from the FY14 tax bill. It will generate an average tax bill of $3,414, which is an $85 increase from last year’s bill. As per this tax rate, the county's total revenue will be $839,729,460 before a split with the school division and the inclusion of the recordation tax and budgeted county resources. This budget projects a 2.07 percent revenue increase over that received in FY14.
Of the $3,414 average tax bill, 57.23 percent goes to fund schools and 21.66 percent to fund public safety. Community development, general government and administration, transportation, parks, libraries and "other" all receive less than 5 percent of the tax bill. Additionally, the general debt on the CIP (capital improvement) is less than 0.5 percent of the total bill or an average of $16 per household.
Although real estate assessments rose significantly, the BOCS wanted to keep the tax bill relatively stable this year in keeping with economic hardships experienced in Northern Virginia. Thus, due to commercial real estate values growing slower than expected, the BOCS has to contend with a $15 million annual shortfall of what they had expected to receive at this tax rate. Nonetheless, supervisors instructed Peacor to present to the board the 2.5 percent increase tax bill and as a result, Peacor presented what Potomac Supervisor Maureen Caddigan described as an “austere” budget.
The budget continues to fund county staff at regular pay intervals of a two percent increase one year followed by a merit increase the next. It sets aside money for staffing at the two new libraries, one in Gainesville and another in Montclair, at an increased cost of $0.6 million.
There are few new initiatives in the FY15 budget, and primarily the county executive focused on fulfilling prior commitments. It does not return the county to pre-recession levels of hiring.
Public safety is still lagging way behind pre-recession years. Before 2008, the county would hire 25 new officers each year to keep up with growing populations. This coming year, the budget allows for the hiring of only five new police officers at a cost of $1.36. Peacor pointed out that in order to fullfill a need within the department, uniformed officers are being taken off the street to perform civilian duties.
The FY15 budget also looks into hiring four new fire & recue personnel at a cost of $0.5 million. Hiring four system developers for public safety and general government systems and applications will cost an additional $0.5 million.
Parks & recreation will be opening some new parks and trails in the next five years that require additional operational costs to the department for FY15. They include Rollins Ford Park ($66,000), Fuller Heights Park ($103,000) and Potomac Scenic Trail ($93,000).
The county budget also includes upgrading the elementary school fields next year at a cost of $154,000, but this will be supported by a small increase in use fees for youth athletes who play on those fields. This is in addition to the $3.5 million that will be used to fund new ball fields as per FY14 rollover funds.
Road projects for FY15 aimed at reducing congestion include Fuller Road/Fuller Heights Road, Logmill Road, Minnieville Road, Prince William Parkway, Purcell Road/Route 234, Route 1, Route 28, Telegraph Road, U.S. Marine Corpos Heritage Center Parkway and Vint Hill Road. While these projects total $101 million, most of the cost is being funded through the new Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA), which derives its funding via an additional sales tax in Northern Virginia. However, in order to receive the NVTA’s funding, local jurisdictions need to continue their contributions, and in the Prince William County, this comes from the recordation tax.
According to Peacor, the budget lacks funding to provide enough prison beds. Even though more beds will be opened in 2019, the county will still be short. Peacor does recommend in her budget adding nine new full-time positions and one part-time position to the adult detention center at a cost of $1 million .
At risk-youth program also requires new funding. This would cost $o.5 million. A new criminal justice information system will cost the county $200,000.
The county’s share of costs to operate Birmingham Green, the elder care home, will cost $800,000. Another $20,000 is needed in FY15 for membership in the Council of Government.
As the county does not budget for inflation, rising costs for fuel, space and replacement of streetlights and vehicles will cost $1.2 million in the next year.
According to the revised revenue sharing agreement, Prince William County Public Schools receives 57.23 percent of the overall county budget, not including the recordation tax or the agency revenues.
Therefore, the schools will receive a budget of $480,577,170, and the county share will be $359,152,290. After including other county taxes and revenues, the county side will be $495,279,856. As per their part of the county’s $15 million shortfall, the school division will experience a $8.7 million shortfall on their side. The PWCS budget, once received, is determined by the elected School Board, and without those extra funds via the BOCS, the School Board budget will be lean as well.
According to Superintendent Steven Walts' budget, teachers and other educators will only receive a one percent pay increase in FY15, which is less than what other county employees receive. This concerns supervisors and School Board members as it could mean the loss of teachers to neighboring jurisdictions. Class sizes are a concern, since Prince William has the largest class sizes in the Commonwealth.
Currently, Peacor’s FY15 budget does not provide any additional funding to the school division to reduce class sizes or provide a better pay increase for teachers. However, Chairman Corey Stewart agreed to invite a member of the School Board to present to the BOCS on the school’s needs before the supervisors vote on the advertised tax rate.
Many supervisors, who asked to see a reduction in class sizes, thought Walts' plan was not aggressive enough. However, due to the budget shortfall, the superintendent scaled back his proposal to only decreasing sixth grade classes at a cost of $1.5 million from the school division's portion of the budget. His original proposal, which would cost $3.5 million, reduces class sizes in kindergarten, sixth grade and ninth grade math classes. Many supervisors still hope to fund this plan, should they find the means.
Besides not provided any additional funding on the school side, Peacor’s budget is also short on public safety funds, and this is one point of contention for supervisor Frank Principi of Woodbridge.
Principi said he thought the budget was lacking and public safety ought to be better funded to meet the needs of a rising population, especially since Peacor’s budget includes the hiring of new librarians and other library staff.
Supervisor Maureen Caddigan said she supports public safety, but thought it unfair that Principi criticized the libraries, since his district has gotten an extension made to its library and other funds were used by the board to bury power lines in his district at a cost of $11 million.
Supervisor Pete Candland of Gainesville said he is pleased with the budget the county executive presented, chiefly because it is lean. However, he said he wished it would have been presented earlier, and thus the supervisors would have more time to get more citizen input before deciding on the advertised tax rate. Candland said he remains hopeful that there will be room to find the additional $8.5 million needed to reduce class sizes and fund an additional one percent pay increase for teachers.
Brentsville Supervisor Wally Covington requested a joint meeting with elected leaders from the City of Manassas to discuss funding for the adult detention center.
Supervisors still have the option of raising the tax rate, as the tax rate has not yet been officially advertised. They can also change the funding initiatives in the county executive's budget and replace them as they see fit.
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