Prince William supervisors near final approval for tax hike on data centers, homeowners

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday all but finalized a tax increase on evidence centers and homeowners per the board s advertised rates The board is slated to formally adopt the budget April during its p m meeting at which residents can still voice their thoughts on the various proposals therein The fiscal year begins July During Tuesday s budget markup session and through numerous straw polls the board Set its fiscal computer and peripherals tax rate especially pertinent for content centers at up from the fiscal rate of anticipated to generate million in additional records center tax revenue according to David Sinclair county budget director Lowered the vehicles personal property tax rate from to for an average decrease of per tax bill and a million revenue loss At this rate the average bill for a car will be approximately while the average bill at for a truck or SUV will be approximately according to Nikki Brown a county spokesperson Lowered the food and beverage or meals tax rate from to leading to a reduction in revenue Lowered the real estate tax rate from to per of assessed value as County Executive Christopher Shorter proposed last week due to higher property assessments which still entails a annual increase for the average county household Maintained the fire levy at increasing the average residential levy by Board Chair Deshundra Jefferson commented the average homeowner would see a modest and incremental monthly tax increase of amid the yearly spike of with higher-valued homes the majority heavily impacted In a text message to InsideNoVa she added countless homeowners won t see a meaningful change in their property tax bill The meals tax meanwhile is an ordinance meaning county staff must return to the board next week with specific resolutions to facilitate the implementation of the new tax on Jan for the second half of fiscal and the subsequent entirety of fiscal As for the real estate tax supervisors debated it extensively throughout Tuesday s meeting A proposed reduction to ultimately failed in a - tie via straw poll with Potomac Supervisor Andrea Bailey Occoquan Supervisor Kenny A Boddye Woodbridge Supervisor Margaret Angela Franklin and Jefferson all Democrats casting the four dissenting votes At the negotiated real estate rate on which the board eventually compromised the board was still facing a budget shortfall of its share of the remaining shortfall given school transfer of under the county s revenue-sharing agreement The board also selected Option Two for its new landfill hours from a set of four choices with the second option including hours of facility per week including a planned Sunday opening and extended Thursday hours In order to establish a balanced five-year fiscal plan as mandated by the county s adopted Principles of Sound Financial Management that could carry over from fiscal into fiscal the board was forced to make several cuts from County Executive Christopher Shorter s proposed iteration of the budget to compensate for the shortfall Chief among them were A reduction from county insurance premiums leading to a increase instead of the budgeted A decrease of the county s contingency fund from million to million A cut from Occoquan Trail maintenance A level rate of funding at million for the Parks and Recreation Department despite a budgeted doubling to million Differing values From the outset Jefferson made clear the budget would be a message of our values and emphasized her top two priorities would be development and masses safety This became especially apparent when Democratic Neabsco Supervisor Victor S Angry proposed lowering the fire levy from to to trigger prospective tax cuts which would have entailed a million spending removal from county fire and rescue Fire and Rescue Chief Thomas LaBelle reported the board he would need to consult with his department on the impact of the proposed million loss Republican Coles District Supervisor Yesli Vega weighed in asking Angry to meet her halfway for the real estate tax in exchange for fire levy aid Jefferson responded saying she couldn t allow population safety to be hijacked for a tax rate The proposed fire levy change narrowly failed by a - straw poll vote Other points of disagreement involved the county s revenue-sharing agreement with the School Board which Vega proposed to decrease from to A straw poll resulted in a - vote against the change with Brentsville Supervisor Tom Gordy Gainesville Supervisor Bob Weir and Vega all Republicans voting in favor Gordy Weir and Vega lamented the revenue-sharing agreement s hamstringing of both the board and the school division with Weir adding the board s new tax scheme was disgraceful In a Wednesday afternoon email to Brentsville District residents Gordy reported he fully supports county schools but could not endorse allocating million more to the division than was requested as the board opted to do One of my colleagues on the board reported this budget represents our values Gordy reported in the email I assure you it does not represent my values If it did we wouldn t be taking more money from you than is necessary From the dais Jefferson explained she was a heck no on this one in relation to the proposed revenue-sharing shift adding the agreement lends the budget certainty County positions Earlier in the day Amy Ashworth Prince William County s commonwealth s attorney presented her fiscal budget requests which included eight new full-time equivalent positions or FTEs four attorneys and four administrative staff all already included in Shorter s proposed budget While several supervisors attempted to cut those positions late Tuesday night the ensuing motion for a reduction to only two attorneys and two paralegals ultimately failed by a - straw poll vote with Gordy Vega and Weir voting in favor as the board fully funded the eight proposed positions A need that the board was not able to fully address during the meeting was the county s ongoing lack of planners Rather than funding new planners the board voted - to split the two planners built into the proposed budget between the long-range and current sections of the Planning Department A county employee homeownership project and arts council grants were also among initiatives not added to the budget Source