Tuesday is budget mark-up day; Tax bills expected to rise despite surplus

Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 18, 2023, we’ll see what Prince William County Supervisors leave in and what they cut out.

Elected leaders will hold a public meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the county government complex, 1 County Complex Court in Woodbridge, for budget markup. During a series of back-and-forth discussions and straw polls, supervisors will decide what programs to fund in the upcoming Fiscal 2024 budget, which takes effect July 1, 2024. You can watch the meeting online here.

A few residents spoke about the proposed budget during a public hearing on Tuesday, April 11, 2023. Some wanted more investments into the public schools for robotics programs, while others cried rising taxes are displacing seniors on fixed incomes from their homes. Others said they want more police after the county’s violent crime rate increased by 70% since the current Board of Supervisors was elected in 2019.

According to the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting, no public comment time is scheduled.

Supervisors are mulling the budget that would increase the average homeowner’s Real Estate tax bill to $4,905 Real Estate tax bill, up $72 from last year.

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.

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.

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.

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.