Dan Genz, The Examiner
2007-12-19 08:00:00.0
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WASHINGTON -

Prince William County supervisors directed administrators Tuesday to draft a budget that would raise the average homeowner’s tax bill 10 percent and put funding

for many top priorities within reach.

The tax rate would climb from 78.7 cents per $100 of assessed value to $1.008 per $100 under a plan that is sure to change over months of wrangling before its formal adoption in April.

The bill for an average homeowner would climb from $3,385 to $3,721, under the proposal.

Already approved police and firefighter staffing increases were cut in half and the county’s illegal immigration crackdown would not be fully funded, under the proposal that passed 5-3.

Chairman Corey Stewart warned that the final budget should include staffing and program cuts; however, fellow supervisors said that plan would sacrifice too many critical projects.

The tax increase proposal is higher than preliminary drafts in October because property values have continued to fall — at least 14 percent countywide — while the cost for programs has climbed.

Woodbridge Supervisor Hilda Barg, in her last board meeting in a 20-year career, originally voted against the tax-increase proposal because she argued it was too small to meet the county’s core needs.

“What’s before us today doesn’t address all of our needs,” Barg said. “I think we cut about everything we could cut last year.”

Vice Chairman Martin Nohe said the plan was the best compromise to pay for key programs like a sorely needed high school in the western end of the county.

But homeowners don’t have the appetite for a substantial tax increase, Manassas resident Jim Metcalf told The Examiner. “Why don’t we run this place like a family that’s taking a big hit in the pocketbook?”

The tax increase was the middle of three proposals by county staff, which ranged from a 6.7 percent increase to a 12 percent increase.

dgenz@dcexaminer.com