Corporations don’t settle in Prince William due to overcrowded schools

Opinion 

When I moved to Prince William County in 1972, the population was 111,000. Today, we have almost 450,000 neighbors.

The County has had monumental growing pains in the interim with a need to build an infrastructure of roads, schools, and County services to this enormous population growth. Our population is 60,000 more than the City of Cleveland and more than twice the size of the City of Richmond.

Corey Stewart has been Chairman of the Board of County Supervisors for almost ten years. In order to fund his election campaigns, he has raised almost $1 million from real estate developers.

Right now, we have some 30,000 homes in the pipeline. As a result, taxpayers will have to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to build new schools.

As Democratic candidate for Chairman of the Board Rick Smith points out, we have one of the largest class sizes in the Washington area. Our teachers are among the lowest paid, and we are among the lowest in per capita aid to education.

We are in a vicious cycle. Some 78% of county expenses come from real estate taxes. And unlike Cleveland, Richmond, and most other large cities, we have little commercial development that other areas have to help support local government costs.

Against these enormous odds, there must be a change in this vicious cycle. Corporations do not settle in Prince William due in large part, to overcrowded schools.

Rick Smith has some fresh ideas to address our problems. We need a change before we drown in debt and contingent liabilities.

Rick has been a resident of the county for over 35 years. His agenda is to address gridlock on our roads, strengthen our schools and improve the environment to attract new businesses and higher paying jobs to Prince William.

On November 3, please consider casting your vote for Rick Smith for Chairman of the Board of County Supervisors.