Manassas Park candidates say business growth will help city escape debt

Election hopefuls in Manassas Park say more economic development is what is needed to escape the city’s crushing $120 million debt.

City Councilman Preston Banks held an open voter forum Wednesday night where 10 candidates seeking seats on the Governing Body shared their vision of a bright future for the two-square-mile city. New government facilities to include a community center — where residents gathered for the forum Wednesday- with indoor swimming pool, new fire and police stations, and new school buildings all built over the past 20 years have left the city with a pile of debt.

Multiple candidates called for refinancing the debt and renegotiating contracts to free up additional funds in the city’s annual $78 million budget. There were also promises from two mayoral candidates — incumbent Frank Jones and Jeanette Rishell — not to raise property taxes.

Those taxes are the majority source of funds for a city that lacks a large retail, corporate tax base. Some residents complained about the lack of retail in the city, especially in the City Center development across from City Hall on Manassas Drive.

“Sixty percent of the city’s taxes are residential. And the city lost 58% in its property value in 2009, and seven years later and we’re still vulnerable,” said Donald Shuemaker, a 1997 Manassas Park High School graduate seeking his first term on the Governing Body.

Mehtab Singh Kahlon, seeking his first seat on the Governing Body, called to lower property taxes in order to attract more business.

Rishell was quick to dismiss claims that the city’s economic development efforts are not working. She touted the creation of a brochure to showcase the city, and sending staff to community events in Northern Virginia to promote the city as positive signs of economic development efforts.

“We now have an economic development brochure and [Econmic Development] Manager. These are things we did not have when I came onto the Council in 2013,’ said Rishell.

To date, a bank is the only street-level retail store that has opened in the City Center development on Manassas Drive near the Manassas Park Virginia Railway Express station.

“There are no jobs at City Center,” said Micheal Rogers, a pastor seeking his first term on the Governing Body.

The city has experienced a boom in apartment construction in recent years. Residents called for an end to more apartment construction, saying the homes put a drain on the city’s schools and increases traffic on area roads as new residents move into the city.

Richard Schubert, who is seeking his first term, said he would not approve any new residential construction if elected. The city’s school system, he added, is not equipped to handle the influx of Hispanic children in city classrooms and called for the hiring of more Spanish-speaking teachers.

As for generating more revenue for the city, Jones and Schubert called for more surveillance at school bus stops to make sure cars dropping off children for the school bus have a valid city decal displayed on their windshields.

Rogers and Rishell were against such a move.

“When you stop to think of the resources and administrative cost associated with that instead, we should be doing more to attract businesses to [residents] don’t have to leave [Manassas Park] to make a living,” said Rogers.

Traffic congestion on Route 28, between Manassas Drive and Interstate 66, is also a campaign issue. Despite a newly completed study that outlines needed roadway improvements in the corridor, little has been done to fix the gridlock.

“Manassas Park is landlocked behind the Bull Run bridge [on Route 28 at the Fairfax County line]. And that’s because Prince William County is not willing to widen Route 28,” said Jones, whose been the city’s mayor for the past 12 years.

He called for adding reversible lanes to Route 28 that would carry more traffic along the clogged artery during peak rush-hour periods.

The budgets of city schools, public safety, and schools ranked high on a majority of lists of items candidates said they would not cut if elected.

Jones, Rishell, and Shuemaker are the only candidates that filed their paperwork in time to have their names listed on the ballot. The six candidates urged the more than 70 people who attended Wednesday’s voter forum to write-in their names on Election Day November 8.