Prince William leaders project higher tax bills despite $10 million surplus, $34 million revenue increase

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors held its public hearing on a proposed tax increase, where the average homeowner could pay a $4,905 Real Estate tax bill, up $72 from last year, starting July 1.

County Executive Christopher Shorter dropped the proposed tax rate by one cent, to .966 cents on every $100 of assessed home value, from when he first proposed his 2024 budget on February 28. While the proposed rate is lower than the current $1.03 rate, increased property values mean homeowners will pay more.

“I’m glad to see the tax rate is going down. I hope people are paying attention,” said Woodbridge District Supervisor Margaret Franklin.

The public hearing started at 9:02 p.m. on Tuesday, April 11, and lasted 20 minutes. Those who spoke said the county should do more to fund robotics programs in the public schools, hire more police officers, and lower taxes to help make a living in Prince William County more affordable for seniors.

“The only way my parents can afford to live here in this county is in my home,” said one resident.

“We’re 363 officers short of where our comprehensive plan says we should be, and you’re not planning to hire any new officers,” said Barbra Dodge. While the county’s comprehensive plan does call for more, Prince William County has 707 police officer positions on its rolls, and is short about 75, said Chief Peter Newsham on March 31.

Violent crime has been up 70% in Prince William County since 2019.

The 2024 budget, which takes effect July 1, aims to fund salary increases for public safety personnel in the sheriff’s office, fire and rescue, and jail. Last year, supervisors gave police officers a 17% pay hike, bringing the annual starting pay for a new police officer to $62,000.

One of the budget drivers is a new crisis receiving center, which will take in mental patients when it opens in what was a Gander Mountain store next to Potomac Mills mall in Woodbridge. It’ll cost about $3.8 million a year to operate, with $2.1 million coming from the state.

Other budget priorities supervisors told Shorter they would like to see in the budget is $500,000 for landscaping projects across the county. There’s another half-million dollars to fund a new community events department to continue to help organize events like a Christmastime lights show at the Neabsco Boardwalk in Woodbridge and a series of Friday evening community parties at the government center.

The boardwalk lights event began last year and was funded with $150,000 in coronavirus relief funding given to the county by the state government, said county parks and recreation director Seth Handler Voss.

Tuesday marked the first time supervisors heard of the new county events department, which Shorter would fire one full-time and one part-time employee to staff. Supervisor Victor Angry suggested the county develop a protocol for how many events could be held in the county’s seven magisterial districts and suggested limiting the events to two each.

Supervisor Jeanine Lawson cautioned, saying she doesn’t want to compete with private businesses the county could hire to produce community. Shorter told PLN he was open to working with any business. However, the county government has yet to enter talks with any private business to produce its community events.

Supervisor Yesli Vega accused Shorter of wanting to grow the local government. “In the past, if we’ve had an event in our district, we’ve paid for it out of our office budgets. I’d rather see this extra money [for the events department] go to public safety,” said Vega.

Board Chair At-large Ann Wheeler said the boardwalk lights event attracted tourists. Potomac District Supervisor Andrea Bailey wants to spend $150,000 on a new tourism master plan to target would-be visitors, supplementing the work of the county’s tourism office.

There’s also a $2.5 million plan to dredge Quantico Creek in Dumfries. Four years ago, the county spent $750,000 to dredge nearby Neabsco Creek, popular with boaters and home to a county fire and rescue boat. Private marinas that operated on the creek matched the spending with $250,000, funding the $1 million project.

Public defenders would also get a raise, which could cost taxpayers about $360,000.

The county schools will benefit from the higher tax bills, adding about $13.4 million to its $1.5 billion annual budget. Prince William is one of at least two jurisdictions in the state that automatically gives more than half of its local government budget to its public schools.

The higher rate will also create a $10.4 million budget surplus. Meanwhile, the county is flush with cash after introducing a new meals tax last year that generated about $35 million, about $11 million more than anticipated.

County Budget Director Michelle Atreed said overall tax revenues are up $34 million, with a 19% increase in industrial tax revenue and a 15% data center tax revenue increase. However, most of the increases came from personal property taxes, as used cars appreciated in value over the last year — a stark change from when used cars typically lost value.

On April 18, supervisors will hold an annual budget markup session to decide what to leave in the funding plan and what to remove. The board is expected to approve the budget on April 25.

If the budget is approved without significant changes, it’ll be the third year in a row Real Estate tax bills have increased for county residents.