Rising Manassas taxes pushed Bookwalter to run: ‘the city has gotten drunk on tax money’

Increasing tax bills for Manassas residents is one reason Rick Bookwalter is running for City Council. 

Bookwalter, a Republican, took issue with the city’s capital improvement plan, which, in recent weeks, has cost more than city leaders expected. 

As reported this week, the cost to gut and completely renovate the 35-year-old Manassas City Hall building is nearly 40% higher than anticipated, at more than $12 million. The city received eye-popping bills this summer when contractors responded to the city’s request for bids on the renovation project. 

Also, this summer, the City Council, controlled by a majority of Democrats, reversed course. It voted to give residents a 15% break on their personal property (car) tax bills after residents were shocked to learn the city valued their used vehicles at a rate more than 25% higher than the previous year.

Residents complained to their elected officials. Unlike Manassas, surrounding jurisdictions like Prince William County anticipated higher used car assessments when it passed its budget in April and decided to asses vehicles at 80% of the total rate. 

The city government’s $406.5 million budget for the fiscal year 2023, up 13% since 2019, relies on Real Estate and personal property taxes to fund most of the city’s spending.

“I believe the Democrats have taken over the Council for political reasons…but the city has gotten drunk on tax money, and they’re saying, ‘hey, we can just take the money and spend it,” Bookwalter told Potomac Local News. “One of the reasons I’m running is to bring some common sense back to the process.” 

In June, the city had more than $180 million worth of projects on its capital improvements lists, including the city hall renovation. Others include a replacement for Jennie Dean Elementary School for more than $78 million, a $6 million expansion of the city’s museum, a soon-to-open police station, new parks, and a road diet in which the city will remove two lanes of traffic on Grant Avenue to make the area more pedestrian friendly.

If elected, Bookwalter said he’ll with others to reign in local government spending and city staff, which he often said championed projects like the road diet and pushed residents to support them. 

“There was hardly anyone at the meeting about the [road diet] who thought that was a good idea. So, that’s the basic bottom line: we need to listen to the poeple about what they want,” he said.

Bookwalter ran for and lost a seat on the Manassas School Board in 2006. This year, with learning loss apparent during the pandemic, the school division, with 7,200 students, posted Virginia Standards of Learning test scores showing 57% of its children are proficient at reading. Just 49% passed math and 45% science by eight points to 45%, while 56% passed history and social science.

“Part of that failure is due to the fact they’re not letting teachers do their jobs. I see very little support for teachers in the classroom, and that’s where the challenge is,” said Bookwalter. 

The City Council provides funding for public schools but cannot tell the School Board how to spend the cash. Last year, the school division declared systemic racism in the division and would prioritize hiring black and hispanic teachers.  

Bookwalter is one of six poeple — three Republicans and three Democrats — vying for three open seats on the City Council. Sitting Council members Theresa Coates Ellis and Lynn Forkell Greene are the other Republicans.

Democrat Incumbent Ralph Smith, Democrats Sonia Vasquez Luna, and Dheeraj “DJ” Jagadev also seek the three open seats. They have not returned a request for comment about their campaigns.

The General Election is Tuesday, November 8, 2022. 

• The deadline to register to vote or update an existing registration is October 17, 2022.
•  The deadline to apply for a ballot to be mailed to you is October 28, 2022. Your local voter registration office must receive your request by 5 p.m.
• Voter registration offices open for early voting: Saturday, October 29, 2022.
• The last day of in-person early voting at the city’s voter registration office is Saturday, November 5, 2022, at 5 p.m.