Supervisors Adopt the Lowest Tax Rate in N.Va.

Spending to Grow by $92 Million Over Last Year as Public Safety Jobs, Schools Win Additional Funds

Prince William County supervisors approved an $857 million spending plan for the coming year and with it a tax rate that becomes Northern Virginia's lowest. Yet county homeowners will still see their real estate tax bills rise.

On a 6 to 2 vote, supervisors shaved nearly 16 cents off the current tax rate, bringing it to 80.7 cents per $100 of assessed home value. With the average value of a county home at $423,403 -- 27 percent higher than last year -- the average homeowner will see taxes rise by $187 this year.

The new tax rate is lower than Arlington's, which until yesterday was the region's lowest rate, at 81.8 cents per $100 assessed value. Board members had approved the new rate last week.

Prince William's rate includes levies for fire and gypsy moth and mosquito prevention.

"First, let me say, we're not in competition with anybody," board Chairman Sean T. Connaughton (R) said in an interview. "We have tried to focus the budget on just the essentials -- primarily roads, schools and public safety."

The schools will receive $405 million of the $857 million budget. Public safety will follow, with $140 million in spending, which will provide for 29 additional police officers, 30 firefighters, 11 additional civilian full-time employees and one part-time employee.

In its budget, the board also created a separate county Department of Transportation. Voters will be asked in November to approve $300 million in bonds for road projects.

The rising cost of constructing roads, the influx of students into the school system and the need to hire more police officers and firefighters to protect the county's growing population helped add $92 million to this year's budget, a 12 percent increase over last year's $765 million spending plan.

Supervisors John T. Stirrup Jr. (R-Gainesville) and Corey A. Stewart (R-Occoquan), who had voted against the proposed fiscal 2007 budget, said after the vote that they understood the county's needs but thought it should have worked harder to cut spending.

Considered the board's fiscal conservatives, Stirrup and Stewart had been pushing for a tax rate that would have kept real estate tax increases at or below the rate of inflation. About two years ago, the board adopted a policy to cap tax increases at 5.9 percent.

"The tax rate is not more important than the tax bill itself," Stewart said.

Rising assessments are significantly outpacing tax rate reductions, and the only way to balance the two is through spending cuts, Stewart said. "I do feel that we are bloating the size of our government," he said.

In the future, home prices and assessments could drop, he said, and the county could find itself in financial straits. If that happens, "We're going to have to cut not only fat, but flesh and bone," he said.

Stirrup said that the county's spending has increased 124 percent in 8 years but that the population has increased 32 percent in that time. The services do not match the constituency, he said. "I just don't like to see us continue down this road. We're heading for perhaps a disaster in the future," Stirrup said.

Supervisor John D. Jenkins (D-Neabsco), who supported the budget, threw out suggestions for his skeptical colleagues: "If you want to cut the roads out, we can cut the tax rate. If you want to cut the schools out, we can cut the tax rate."

Supervisor W.S. Covington III (R-Brentsville) said the need for roads was his main reason for approving the spending plan, and he dismissed Stirrup and Stewart's approach to the budget.

"At the end of the day, you can't drive on philosophy," he said.