The Stafford County Board of Supervisors had a budget work session on April 28 to hammer down a close-to-final draft of the Fiscal Year 2021 budget.

Cuts are key in the budget with the equalized .97-cent tax Real Estate rate that the Board of Supervisors approved last week. It’s an equalized rate that, essentially, keeps tax bills flat, so residents won’t pay more in Real Estate taxes than they did in 2020.

“Our vote last Tuesday pinned us in a corner, and I don’t know how we’re going to get out of that corner,” Griffis-Widewater District Supervisor Tinesha Allen said

The proposed budget includes a $601,000 reduction in the county’s Parks and Recreation budget. 

With pools closed, no summer camps running, and minimal usage of facilities, county staff has recommended that 83 part-time employees in the recreation department be furloughed. 

Employees such as lifeguards who are normally hired, but won’t be this year, are also a source of some budget savings.

The library is facing a $387,000 reduction in funds, and the Rappahannock Regional is losing $136,000 from the earlier budget proposal. 

A sticking point for the Board was the discussion over the meals tax that can be implemented in May 2021. If the meals tax was imposed in January instead of May, the county would receive $700,000 more in funding.

“This would be a buffer that I think is sorely needed,” said Aquia District Supervisor Cindy Shelton. 

This extra money could provide the $450,000 needed to move government staff up to a comparable market pay scale.

Public safety personnel will still get raises as planned, even with the equalized tax rate. 

The reductions come as the county is facing millions of dollars in lost sales tax revenue amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The budget will be voted on at the next Board of Supervisors meeting on May 5.

Stafford School Board meets

The Stafford County School Board on Tuesday discussed level funding schools with a $1.6 million increase for the Virginia Retirement System. 

Earlier in the day, Superintendent Scott Kizner came and spoke to the Board of Supervisors, advocating for more funding.

“Our school system, like all other school systems, will be in a position where we have to increase services to make up for lost time,” Kizner said.

Currently, Stafford County schools are ranked 122 out of 133 in-state per-pupil expenditure. 

Kizner discussed the need to increase the number of nurses and medical staff available at schools. 

The number of students requiring free and reduced lunch is also expected to rise.  As of last Friday, the school system has given out 112,000 meals to students. 

They’ve also distributed 5,400 Chromebooks to those in need, but are still not close to reaching a one-to-one rate of technology to students.

Kizner briefly discussed potential options to address the coronavirus in the Fall such as having smaller class sizes, dividing classes into morning/afternoon shifts, and having students come in every-other-day.

No decisions on what school will look like in the Fall have been made.

Free WiFi is now available in all school parking lots in Stafford County. 

Lime green signage in all the school parking lots mark where these outdoor WiFi hotspots are available. 

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They sat in silence for three minutes — no one willing to make a motion. 

The Stafford County Board of Supervisors on during its Tuesday, April 21 meeting had to make a decision on a tax rate in order to ensure the Real Estate tax bills would go out 30 days before the deadline on June 5. 

In a 5-2 vote, the Board decided to keep the tax rate at the .97 cents per $100 of assessed Real Estate property value. It’s an equalizing rate that, essentially, keeps both the tax rate and the tax bills flat, meaning the county won’t get any more tax revenues than it did last year. Supervisors Tinesha Allen and Cindy Shelton were the dissenting votes. 

The average Real Estate tax bill for a single-family home in Stafford County is valued at $325,000 will be about $3,186.65. Homeowners may still expect around a $75 increase in their tax bill as there will be some variation in the tax bill residents can expect to receive, officials said.

That average bill a far cry from what the Board of Supervisors had discussed back in February when they talked about increasing the tax rate to $1.03, which would have generated a tax bill about $170 more per household.

While the county is facing millions in lost revenue in the wake of the coronavirus, there should be funding available for the full implementation of planned raises for the county’s sheriff’s deputies, and fire and rescue crews.

“These people are working now, they’re dealing with all kinds of stuff. I’m pleading with you, they need this,” Rock Hill District Supervisor Crystal Vanuch said.

The .97 cent rate will also allow the Board of Supervisors to move forward with plans to build the county’s planned sixth high school, estimated to cost about $130 million.

Renovations planned for Drew Middle School and the county’s courthouse may need to be postponed, and the tax lower rate ensures the county won’t be able to afford to hire new sheriff’s deputies, or purchase new fire and rescue vehicles.

A full budget will be voted on at the Board meeting on May 5.

The Board has also set the personal property tax at the $6.46 equalized rate. Initially they were considering raising the rate to $6.69. 

The 1.5 percent water/sewer user fee rate increase proposal was unanimously denied by the Board. 

The Garrisonville Service District tax increased from .082 cents to .085. 

The Lake Carroll Service District decreased from .27 cents to .26. 

The Lynhaven Lane Service District decreased from .20 to .155. 

The Lake Arrowhead Service District decreased from .10 to .093. 

The Hidden Lake Service District decreased from .368 to .347. 

All other tax rates remained unchanged. 

Residents will get a chance to comment on Stafford County’s proposed property tax increase at a live broadcasted public hearing on April 21 at 7 p.m. 

At this meeting, the Board of Supervisors will adopt a budget for the Fiscal Year 2021, which begins July 1. 

There are two main tax increases factored in the budget.

The proposed tax increase would bring the real estate tax from $0.97 per $100 of accessed value to $1.03, as proposed by the Board of Supervisors. If approved, the average tax bill would be about $3,252.65, about $170 more,  for a home valued at $325,000 — the average home price in the county.

Homeowners with a mortgage would likely see an increase in thier monthly bills.

The $1.03 rate proposed proposed by the Board of Supervisors is two cents higher than the $1.01 rate proposed by what Stafford County Administrator Tom Foley. At that rate, the average tax bill would be $3,287.55, an increase of about $100.

Already, Real Estate property is about five percent greater than last year due to increased property values. To match the same amount of tax that was levied last year, tax rates would have to be set at 97 cents per $100.

The personal property tax rate is also being raised by 29 cents from $6.46 to $6.69.

Many other taxes are being set at the same rate from 2019, to include taxes on aircraft, fire and rescue, boats, camper trailers, computer equipment, and mobile home.

A larger driver for the increased budget is schools as school funding is increasing 7.1 percent this year. 

The proposed budget is larger than last year’s by 4.7 percent and comes in at $335 million.

The increase comes as Stafford County Administrator Tom Foley told the Board of Supervisors on April 7 that the county faces a $6.5 million loss in revenues to finish out the Fiscal Year 2020, due to the spread of the coronavirus.

The county is expected to start the new fiscal year, $2 million in the hole. On that news, Foley says he plans to place a freeze on capital projects like road construction, give no new additional funding to the county’s schools, institute a hiring freeze for local government employees. He also shelved a plan to provide employee pay raises.

Foley also paused a pay study that examined the rates of pay for police and fire crews in the county who, for years, have left the county for higher-paying positions in Northern Virginia jurisdictions like Fairfax and Prince William County, as as well as federal agencies.

There are still no removal plans for the slave auction block located on the corner of William and Charles in Downtown Fredericksburg.

This auction block was the cause of widespread debate in the community, but in July of 2019, the City Council decided that the block would be relocated to the Fredericksburg Area Museum. The costs associated with moving the stone were anticipated to be $30,000.

The relocation was supposed to take place in December 2019, but a lawsuit put a halt to those plans. 

Owners of the buildings that house Kybecca restaurant and the Olde Towne Butcher, next to the auction block, filed the lawsuit to prevent the auction block from being moved. 

The lawsuit did not make it through the Virginia Supreme Court and their petition was denied.

In light of the coronavirus pandemic, no new plans have been made to move the auction block.

“The removal has not been rescheduled at this time, the City is fully focused on the public health crisis due to Covid-19,” Fredericksburg City Public Information Officer Sonja Cantu said.

Historians have disagreed on whether the block was used for slave auctions. Old newspaper clippings evidence that the corner of Charles and William streets — in front of what was once the Planters Hotel — was consistently used for auctions in Fredericksburg.

However, some historians think the block was actually a carriage step, intended to serve guests at the hotel.

Stafford Schools has taken a giant leap by announcing a graduation ceremony for high school seniors, joining Manassas City Public Schools in being one of the first area school divisions to set a date amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The tentative graduation date is August 1 at 8 a.m., but according to Superintendent Scott Kizner, nothing is set-in-stone. 

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“We will reassess and reach out in late May as things become more clear as to what we can expect from the summer,” Osbourn High Principal Michael Pflugrath told Potomac Local News. 

Osbourn HS graduation ceremony is now scheduled for July 18th at 9 am at Osbourn HS stadium. Providing the distinguished ceremony our Seniors deserve. Student safety is our top priority. #OneOsbourn @mymcpsva @OHS_AfterProm @ohsclass2020 @OHSCounseling_

— Mike Pflugrath (@OsbournPrin) April 10, 2020

“At this point, it’s still early,” said Manassas schools spokeswoman Al Radford.

“Our goal was to find a solution that would provide an opportunity for our students to demonstrate mastery and for the improvement of grades,” Superintendent Kevin Newman said in a statement to parents.

Summer heat is just around the corner, and with that normally comes summer swim season and cooling off by your favorite community pool. 

This year, however, the coronavirus pandemic is changing everything.

All park facilities are closed until further notice in Prince William County, however, trials at the county’s parks are open. 

“Because we do not have a date certain that operations will resume, we cannot say definitively when summer programming will be available again or pools will reopen,’ Prince William County Parks and Recreation Department spokesman Brent Heavener said.

In Stafford County, hiking trails inside county parks are open but facilities are closed until May 1, pending re-evaluation.

It’s likely public swimming pools won’t be opened to the public by Memorial Day weekend, as they have in years past. For personal pool owners, it’s a different story.

Residential pools are generally opened up in late April or May, but this year pool owners are opting to open them up sooner than usual. 

“This year we’re seeing a trend where more people are opening early this year just for the simple fact that they’re bored,” said David Muirhead, owner of the pool maintenance company Northern Virginia Pool Scouts.

When opening your pool, make sure to replace filter plugs, remove any return plugs, and get rid of as much debris as possible.

In order for the pools to be safe for human use during the coronavirus outbreak, three to five ppm is the recommended chlorine level. Pools should be tested once a week to maintain proper chemical levels.

The CDC has stated that there’s no evidence that coronavirus can be spread through pools and that proper pool maintenance should get rid of the virus that causes coronavirus.

Though many industries have been hit hard during this pandemic, the pool industry hasn’t been one of them.

“I think it’s helped the pool industry somewhat,” Muirhead said. “Homeowners are doing whatever they can while they have the time off.”

Northern Virginia Pool Scouts has remained open and taken precautions such as driving separately, sanitizing doorknobs, and maintaining distance from homeowners in order to protect employees and customers during the coronavirus crisis. 

Across the world, healthcare professionals are at the front lines battling the coronavirus pandemic. In the local Rappahannock health district, things are no different.

At a virtual community town hall on Wednesday, April 1, 2020, Mary Washington Healthcare leaders provided updates with how they are addressing the pandemic.

With a peak in cases not expected for another four to eight weeks in Virginia, the hospital is working to double the emergency department and ICU capacity. The parking deck was converted into a secure structure to care for patients. Additionally, cardiac procedure rooms, post-anesthesia care unit rooms, and other operating rooms are being converted to hold more ICUs.

All elective, nonessential surgeries have been canceled in order to preserve the blood supply and personal protective equipment. 

The disrupted supply chain of protective masks, gloves, and gowns has been challenging for healthcare workers who rely on these materials to keep themselves and other patients safe. 

Mary Washington Healthcare is holding a 5,000 mask challenge to try and get enough masks to keep their healthcare workers safe. See links to patterns for making these masks at the bottom of this story.

“The most important thing members of our community can do right now is stay at home,” McDermott said.

The hospitals have also been taking extensive care to ensure that emergency patients who don’t have the coronavirus are kept safe. Patients are being instructed to wait in their cars instead of a waiting room, they’re being screened for potential coronavirus at the door, and extra cleaning measures have been put in place. 

“I encourage people in the community to not push of needed care too long,” Chief Operations Officer Christopher Newman said.

At Mary Washington, 27 patients had tested positive with COVID-19, as of April 1. Of these 27, 17 have successfully been treated and discharged. 

There is a severe lack in the availability of testing, and some testing measures can have a turnaround as long as five to seven days. This lack of testing means that the number of cases reported today is actually where the cases were several days ago.

If you have symptoms of the coronavirus, Mary Washington Healthcare recommends to assume you have the virus and take the appropriate action. 

• Isolate yourself and carry out self-treatment as you would a normal illness. Seek emergency care if your symptoms get to the point where you cannot care for yourself.
• Community members can call the nurses line at 540-741-110 or the general call center at 540-899-4797 if they are unsure of what to do or want to discuss their symptoms.
• In the Rappahannock region, there are 29 cases in Stafford, 11 cases in Spotsylvania, 6 cases in King George, 4 cases in Fredericksburg, and 1 case in Caroline.

Statewide on Sunday, April 5, 2020, 2,637 people had tested positive for coronavirus (625 more than Friday, April 3), 431 people had been hospitalized (119 more than Friday, April 3, 2020), and 51 had died (five more than Friday, April 3).

Nationwide there are 304,826 cases as of Sunday, April 5, 2020 (91,682 more than Thursday, April 2) and 7,616 deaths (3,103 more than Thursday, April 2).

Standard mask with wire nose piece https://www.marywashingtonhealthcare.com/documents/PDFs/Cloth-Face-Mask-with-wire-nose-piece.pdf 

N95 mask cover with ties https://www.marywashingtonhealthcare.com/documents/PDFs/N95-MASK-COVER-WITH-TIES-Tutorial.pdf 

N95 mask cover with elastic https://www.marywashingtonhealthcare.com/documents/PDFs/Face-shields.pdf