Candland pushes for Tri-County Parkway, abolishing current schools funding agreement

Peter Candland is vying to keep his seat on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

He’s spent seven years on the Board and has made a reputation of arguing for conservative principals, evoking the “advocating for the taxpayer” in many of his arguments on the dias.

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Name: Peter Candland

Party: Republican

Town: Catharpin

Running for: Gainesville District Supervisor, Prince William County Board of Supervisors

Website: Facebook 

Work: Owner of Consulting Company

Education: Brigham Young University for undergraduate and Marymount University for MBA

Community Involvement: With the ever-increasing expansion of government and burdensome tax rates on the citizens of Prince William County and small businesses, I have worked for the past seven years bringing greater accountability to our County government.

I have been an advocate for promoting reforms to make the County government more efficient, to spend our tax dollars wisely, to keep taxes as low as possible, and to limit the scope of government to the core services it should provide to its citizens. Outside of serving on the Board of County Supervisors, I’m involved in the activities of my four kids – coaching basketball, attending games, and supporting school events.

Questions and answers

PL: What are the top three major issues facing the district you wish to represent? 

Candland: Traffic gridlock on I-66, over-crowded schools with underpaid teachers, and protecting our rural areas to stop overdevelopment

PL: What concrete solutions do you propose to address these issues?

Candland: We must immediately address the issue on Rt. 28 and begin working on the Tri-County Parkway. This will help relieve pressure on I-66 and reduce traffic on our secondary roads. We must continue to improve are economic development efforts to not only attract new job opportunities that match the skills of the workforce that currently commutes out of the county the job centers in Fairfax County and East towards Washington D.C., but also make it easier for businesses currently located in the County to expand.

The Board of County Supervisors has taken significant steps over the last seven years to improve the business climate in the county while reducing the red-tape that businesses face. There is a great need to redirect more public funding to our schools.

Over the last few years, I introduced and successfully past the class size reduction grant and over $20 million to expand the new western high school and invest more in several eastern elementary schools. But there are also deep and well-founded concerns about the accountability of the school administration and the School Board in their budgeting of the current 57.23% of general County revenues that they receive each year under a revenue-sharing agreement with the schools.

Prince William County is one of only a couple of localities that have this antiquated system of funding schools. As a result, it has led us to the situation we face today with overcrowded schools and underpaid teachers. Because the Revenue Sharing Agreement just allocates a certain percentage each year to the school system, the Schools develop their budget based on that percentage, not on actual needs. As a result, we have dug a hole that will take us a good amount of time and investment to get out.

I strongly support the repeal of the revenue sharing agreement that will force the School Board and Board of County Supervisors to be accountable for every dime of taxpayer money that is spent for the education of our children.

We must continue to protect the Rural Crescent, stop flooding the market with tax negative homes, and redo the county’s Comprehensive Plan. Developing the Rural Crescent (an area of rural land from Quantico Marine Corps Base to Manassas National Battlefield) would dramatically increase our traffic and school overcrowding issues. The Board of County Supervisors must stop approving every housing application that comes before the Board and allow our infrastructure time to catch-up.

PL: From your perspective, what is the job description of the office you’re seeking?

Candland: Serving on the Board of County Supervisors requires the person serving in that office to balance the needs of the Magisterial District he or she represents with the needs and priorities of the entire county. That individual must be an advocate for the taxpayers against a system that allows for enormous power to be held by a few in County government, both in the formulation of each fiscal year budget and in the day-to-day management of the programs that impact the quality of life of every citizen in Prince William County.

I believe that the Gainesville Supervisor has a duty to speak for the citizens who elected him or her, and that person is not an advocate for county government. The County Executive and the county staff are well prepared and have legions of people who work for them who could adequately defend the interests of county government.

My job, and that if any member of the Board of County Supervisors is to act in the best interests of the taxpayers and the citizens that each of us represents.

PL: What expertise will you bring to the office?

Candland: I am a taxpayer, a parent of children who are being educated in the Prince William County school system, a citizen who expects to have a quality community in which to live and an advocate for limited government and responsible spending of taxpayer funds.

I have seven years of experience as a member of the Board of County Supervisors, I have a significant amount of experience in the private sector with budgeting and personnel management, and I have an MBA that is afforded me an understanding of the technical aspects of the operations of business entities and, in large measure, county government.

Most importantly, I bring a passion for improving the quality of life here in Prince William County for every family who lives here.

PL: Do you feel that the average citizen is well-informed and understands the workings of local government?

Candland: The average citizen in Prince William County is probably not as informed as they would like to be, but the constraints that were imposed by a poorly planned and implemented transportation system takes most wage earners away from their families for substantial amounts of time every day as they commute to their workplace on heavily congested roadways account for much of that lack of involvement.

In an ideal world, there would be more time for every family to be more engaged and involved in county government and in their communities. Sadly, that is not the case.

My primary responsibility as a member of the Board of County Supervisors from the Gainesville District is to do all that I can to communicate with my constituents to let them know what I’ve learned about county government; what proposals I am making to fix the problems that have been identified; and the votes that I’m making on their behalf that influences an impact on the quality of life that they enjoy.

I have opened the annual budgeting process to volunteers in the community who bring their personal expertise and experience to the development of an alternative budget for consideration by the Board of County Supervisors. That Budget Committee has had, in my judgment, a substantial influence on the budgeting decisions it’d been made over the past for budget cycles.

I also hold regular Town Hall meetings to inform my constituents and to gather their input on public policy issues. I couple that with regular Tele-Town Hall meetings where hundreds of citizens are able to join in a conference call where significant issues of public policy are discussed and questions are raised about the direction of Prince William County government.

Finally, I produce regular newsletters to them for my constituents but issues that I think they should be aware of that are going on in Prince William County.

PL: Have you ever made any mistakes in your public life? How have they affected you?

Candland: The biggest mistake that I can say I have made in my public life was the belief that individuals who hold positions of public trust would be, themselves, trustworthy. I have learned through sad experience that that is not the case.

I have found that it is necessary to invoke the infamous Reagan Doctrine of “trust, but verify” with many county officials whom I deal with. While these experiences have been disappointing, I have learned that it is my obligation as a public official to act in every instance in the best interest of the people who elected me, and I cannot rely upon others who may take advantage of my trust for their own benefit and to the detriment of my constituents.

PL: Our readers want leaders in local government. Why should they vote for you?

Candland: I have developed a track record over the last seven years that will allow every voter to assess whether I have lived up to the commitments that I made to them when I first ran that I would fight to keep their taxes as low as possible; improve our community parks; invest more in education; and fight to protect every tax dollar that is spent to assure that it is spent wisely.

I believe that I am more prepared than ever to be a strong advocate for the citizens of the Gainesville District, and every citizen in Prince William County, in making decisions that impact the quality of life of our families.

I commit to bring my experience and my passion to every Board meeting and pledge my fidelity to the commitments I have made to voters in every vote I am called upon to make as a member of the Board of County Supervisors.

I remain committed to set consistently high standards for the way that county government operates, and I accept the responsibility that every elected official should adhere to that, if they want to be a leader, then they must be willing to lead.