Principi: Despite Budget Pros, Cons Remain

By Uriah Kiser

WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Sounding more like a seasoned radio talk show host, Woodbridge’s top official took questions from residents during a telephone town hall.

Prince William Woodbridge District Supervisor Frank J. Principi on Thursday night spoke to more than 800 residents who listened by phone. Some spoke directly with the Supervisor about the county’s proposed $912.6 million budget and asked questions about traffic and transit improvements in the area.

“We work under a system that requires us to develop a five-year budget, not a one-year budget, and we’re required by state law to make sure we balance that budget every year. In fact we’re one of the very few jurisdictions adopt a five-year budget plan while other jurisdictions only focus on one year at a time,” said Principi. “Over the last four years we’ve cut approximately $140 million from the budget, we’ve laid off more than 300 county employees, we’ve cut programs in every department…we’ve eliminated some county employee benefits, we froze salaries for three years, and we’ve also passed on more retirement costs to our county employees.”

While officials slashed the budget in recent years, Prince William County’s population grew by 43 percent at the same time, Principi said.

This latest proposed budget will include funding for 12 new police officers, two new arson investigators within the county fire department, five new 911 operators, upgrades to the security system at the county’s juvenile detention center, more cash for the county’s gang response team, and a new center for economic development concentrated on redeveloping the U.S. 1 corridor in eastern Prince William, said Principi.

The Board of Supervisors adopted a tax rate of $1.215 per $100 of the assessed property value, increasing the average tax bill for by $110. Officials maintain the proposed tax rate remains the lowest in Northern Virginia when adjusted for inflation.

“With all of those new items and all of our existing programs and staff, there are still critical needs that are not included in this budget. Not included in this budget is an adequate number of fire, rescue and police officers based on our population…we will not be renovating the animal shelter, and while we do have half-a-dozen road improvement projects there are no reliable transit alternatives being discussed at the current time,” said Principi.

The Supervisor also pointed out the lack of adequate funding for teacher salaries in Prince William County, but later stated the Board of Supervisors has no say in how the Prince William County School Board spends its budget, which is much larger than the local government’s budget.

This was Principi’s fifth telephone town hall, and just as a seasoned radio professional would he greeted callers, welcoming them to his show.

“Our next question comes to us from Paul, you’re live, thank you for joining us,” announced Principi.

“What are the plans to accommodate the Route 1 traffic as it migrates to Quantico, from Quantico all the up to where Wegmans is, or up to Neabsco Road?” asked Paul. “We have a tremendous amount of traffic already and there is going to be more traffic coming from BRAC. Are we going to be in bumper to bumper [traffic] for five years until we can make adjustments at Route 1 and Quantico?”

Principi responded, noting plans to widen U.S. 1 from four to six lanes between Neabsco Creek to Featherstone Road, and between Mary’s Way and the Occoquan River in an effort to improve traffic flow in both areas.

Principi said he’s also worked hard to control growth while limiting drive through restaurants and developers that wanted to build new strip malls along the highway. His statement comes after three new businesses with drive-through lanes were approved to be built at Marumsco Plaza on U.S. 1.

“When we talk about a shared vision, a shared vision of a new Woodbridge, that vision has three elements: One is about bringing 10,000 jobs to the Woodbridge District through mixed-use redevelopment of Route 1, and it’s bringing a mix of residential, office, retail, maybe some white table cloth restaurants, shopping we can do right here at home…element two is fixing the gridlock that we experience everyday on our roads and offering a transit solution with offering high-speed passenger ferry service on the Potomac River, and, eventually, the extension of Metro rail into eastern Prince William,” said Principi. “The third element…making sure our communities…are a safe place to be, a place to be proud of, and that we don’t have blight and dilapidated buildings.”