Prince William approves tax hike amid coronavirus shutdown, job losses

Real Estate taxes are going up for Prince William County residents this year.

On Tuesday night, The Prince William Board of County Supervisors adopted its annual budget and a Real Estate tax rate of $1.125 per $100 of assessed value for Fiscal Year 2021. The new budget also comes with a series of higher taxes and fees, including a fire levy rate of $0.0800 per $100 valuation on all real estate and restricts these funds for fire and rescue purposes.

The average family’s residential tax bill will increase by $177 more than what residents paid the last year, bringing the average bill up to $4,664.

The tax rate is the same as last year’s, however, due to increased property values, residents’ bills will increase. If the Board had voted to reduce the tax rate to $1.082, the average residential tax bill would stay the same.

The Prince William County Government provided a list of all tax rates for the coming year, including a 10-cent hike on the business computer tax. There will also be less tax relief for vehicle owners, as vehicles valued between $1,001 and $20,000, and those valued over $20,000 will have their tax bills reduced by 45 percent, one percent less than this year.

The budget vote was split down party lines, with five Democrats on the Board of County Supervisors voting to approve the tax hike, while three Republicans, Yesli Vega, Jeanine Lawson, and Peter Candland, of the Coles, Brentsville, and Gainesville districts, respectively, voted against the $1.125 tax rate.

The higher tax bills come as a record 500,000 Virginians have filed for unemployment since March 15, 2020, following the coronavirus outbreak. This is the first budget passed by this sitting Prince William Board of County Supervisors, which flipped from Republican control the Democratic control in last year’s November General Election.

The tax bills will be lower than what was initially proposed by Prince William County Executive Christopher Martino. On February 18, Martino proposed a $1.3 billion budget to fund the county’s government over the coming year. It would have meant the average property owners would have received a $4,432 tax bill in the mail — about $255 more than what the average taxpayer paid last year.

That same night, the Board of County Supervisors approved an even higher advertised tax rate that would have increased the average tax bill about $500. However,  support for that effort quickly faded amount the Democrats who initially voted for it following the coronavirus pandemic.

The Board of County Supervisors has been reviewing the proposed FY 2021 budget through work sessions and regular meetings. The FY2021 Budget implements the County/School revenue agreement, which allocates 57.23% of general revenues to the school division.

• Dramatic changes in lifestyle, mandated by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, such as the avoidance of the gathering in groups of more than 10 people, resulted in large decreases in the county’s general revenue sources for FY20. On March 31, County Executive Christopher Martino briefed the Board on a projected $2.4M shortfall in general revenue for the FY20 as a result of COVID-19.

Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chair, At-large Ann Wheeler described the budget as a “moving target” and along with other Supervisors, commended county staff for their hard work on the FY 2021 budget. Wheeler gave special praise to the Office of Management and Budget Director, David Sinclair, and his staff.

The Board also adopted the FY 2021 fee schedule for the county’s Department of Parks, Recreation, and Tourism.

Other budget notes include: