Candland: Back Room Dealings Lead to Budget Increase

WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Prince William’s new kid on the political block has done more to distance himself from this fellow Board members.

Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland is serving his first term on the Board of County Supervisors and cast the lone vote against raising the county’s average tax bill about $110 per year. The six seven other members of the Board voted to increase taxes for the Fiscal Year 2013 budget, adopting a tax rate of $1.209 per assessed property value. The new budget includes monies for a new police station, new school funding, and raises for county staff for the first time in four years.

Candland, in a statement released late Tuesday night, accused fellow Board members of back room dealings and threats. According to Candland, he was told if he didn’t go along with the budget increase his district would lose out on construction funding for a new Catharpin Park. That park, one of nine that was to be funded in this year’s budget, is no longer funded, he said.

“I stood up in the face of backroom deals and political retributions to fight for a park that’s critical to the families of the Gainesville District, and I’ll continue to push to find ways to get Catharpin Park funded and built as soon as possible. I’m saddened that petty politics won the day, but it’s the taxpayers of Prince William County who will suffer the brunt of these tax increases,” said Candland in his statement.

County officials stated Tuesday that real estate taxes in Prince William County are 28 percent lower than they are in similar counties in Northern Virginia. When adjusted for inflation, the average tax bill is lower than it was in 2009, according to officials.