Dan Genz, The Examiner
2007-12-18 08:00:00.0
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WASHINGTON -

Prince William County would have to raise its property tax rate as much as 30 percent to pay for its most important spending items, a budget proposal released Monday said.

Under the proposal, the tax rate would be raised from about 79 cents per $100 of real estate value to $1.03 per $100 to compensate for the county’s losses from the dramatic drop in property values and the rising expenses for key programs.

The projected price for the supervisors’ plan to raise teacher pay, provide more police officers and firefighters, build a new high school and voter-approved roads and other “gotta-have” items has spiraled out of reach, Vice Chairman Martin Nohe said.

And even that plan doesn’t fully fund the crackdown on illegal immigration or efforts to address mental health improvements following the Virginia Tech massacre in April.

The price for the key goals is “so high we’re not going to be able to do everything we want,” Nohe said.

The proposal, the most expensive of three that are scheduled to be presented to supervisors, means supervisors will have to scale back their goals or approve a major increase in property tax rates to fund them.

The board will be briefed on the budget today at its board meeting — the first major update since the Oct. 11 retreat revealed a $51 million deficit.

A panel of school board members and supervisors had been meeting to hash out a compromise that would pay for both groups’ essential plans, but were unable to agree.

“The committee was trying to get a consensus between the school and supervisors,” Nohe said. “We couldn’t get there.”

The failure of a compromise means the budget preparations will begin without a clear indication of what the county’s leaders are prepared to spend and what projects will be added.

Supervisors had indicated in October they were preparing to raise the tax rate at least 16 percent to raise the same amount from taxpayers who have seen their property value assessments decline sharply this year.

dgenz@dcexaminer.com