Stewart Defends Flat Tax, Pushes Back Against General Assembly

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Chairman-At Large Corey Stewart (R) defended his flat tax proposal, at the Prince William Board of County Supervisors Meeting on Nov. 20, saying that the county needs to push back against the state government.

“Over the past fives years alone, the state government of Virginia has passed on one billion worth of state projects to local government, forcing us, the local tax payers, to fund those government services. If we have to fund their programming, there’s one of two things we can do---we can either fund with taxes, or we can cut our core services," Stewart said.

Saying, to an extent, this expectation has become a “game of chicken,” Stewart advocated cutting services once carried by state aid. These cuts would mean reductions or elimination of services affecting health care, jails, roads, police, nonprofits and libraries in the county.

“But, ladies and gentleman, we do need to push back. And some of these cuts if they really are cuts, and if the state doesn’t step up to the plate; they are going to be painful for the rest of the county. And, I recognize that, but I believe the time has come to actually mark our territory here,” Corey said.

Stewart described the economic situation in Virginia as one of “massive uncertainty,” due to impending federal sequestration coupled with the federal healthcare mandate, which state governments are required to fund. According to Stewart, those fiscal burdens fall on-top of other fiscal burdens the Virginia General Assembly has already placed on localities in recent years.

“I would like to prepare for the worst,” said Stewart, stating his previous budgets, have resulted in a growing economy in Prince William.

Stewart states that the health department in Prince William County would become redundant for taxpayers, whose taxes will already help fund  the government mandated-universal healthcare system. Stewart said the cut would provide $3.6 million in savings to the county.

Presented as a means to allow the county to continue to provide raises to county employees, Stewart proposed decreasing the 12 paid holidays to 10; this change would save the county money, because essential employees must be paid overtime during holidays.

“We appreciate all the county employees. You haven’t had all the pay adjustments that you really deserve,” Stewart said. He also remarked that state workers have had their pay  frozen for the past five years, while Prince William employees received raises.

As another cost-saving measure, he would eliminate drug rehabilitation programs for inmates at the local jail, saying, “I am not convinced that the program is all that successful and worth the cost;” though adding the caveat that he will keep an open mind.

Stewart also said he would prefer to stop funding nonprofits that are ineffective or not effective enough, rather than cutting funds to successful nonprofits across the board. Two of the nonprofits he would not cut, include SERVE and ACT.

Other cuts would also result from state changes in funding. The TRIP expenditures, for small road projects, were created because the state would match such local expenditures, but the state no longer provides those funds.

He further proposed eliminating four safety resource officer positions with local middle schools, though not the police officers themselves, who would be reassigned. Furthermore, he said the county could close certain libraries on specific days.

The supervisors most opposed to Stewart’s proposals were John Jenkins (D) of the Neabsco District and Frank Principi (D) of the Woodbridge District. Rather than decreasing services, Jenkins proposed increasing services to provide for “unmet needs” in the county. He would like increase funds to police, fire and rescue units by four percent to hire more employees.

“We cut our throats so bad that we don’t have adequate resources to provide the needs of the county,” Jenkins said.

He also rallied against the extensive attention Stewart and county employees have devoted to addressing state and Federal fiscal concerns.

“We should be not so very concerned with what the Federal government and state governments are going to do. It would be mere speculation at this time. We have a change in composition of the government and they’re talking about compromise,” Jenkin said, saying the concern is premature, since sequestration would be clarified by Jan 1, while the budget does not need to be finalized until April. He also voiced his belief that congress would work cooperatively to dispose of or limit sequestration cuts.

Moreover, he pledged his support to educational services in the county, saying, “We can’t keep cutting back things such as library services. There should be no reduction in our support for the schools. Our class sizes are too large.”

Many other supervisors agreed that it is inconsistent and inequitable that they are cutting library hours at the same time they are building two new libraries in the county. And all supervisors said they were eager to talk with the school board next week to find out their needs and concerns.

Supervisor Principi, echoed many of Jenkins sentiments, but took them once step further, proposing a tax increase of .07 percent of the existing tax rate. Principi said this would amount to an approximate increase of $140 annually for the average family, or $12 a month, but would provide much needed services to the community, including fire and rescue and police.

Siding with Stewart's proposal was Brentsville District Supervisor Wally Covington (R), who added  there were some details he would need to look at more closely over the coming weeks and months.

Maureen Caddigan, (R- Potomac); Michael May (R-Occoquan) and Pete Candland (R-Gainesville) were also primarily on board with Stewart's proposal.

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