Don't Cut Property Taxes, Some Residents Urge

It is not very often that citizens come out to tell elected officials that they don't want their taxes cut, but that's what happened at Tuesday's meeting of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

Roger Snyder of Manassas, who has lived in the county for 25 years, put it simply when he told the board: "Please set the tax rate slightly higher." He praised the board for its decision last week not to close the adult day-care center in Manassas, saying that the supervisors had "showed collective wisdom" and that they should apply that wisdom to deciding next year's tax rate.

"I know I speak for my wife and myself when I say that we want the quality of life we've had for 25 years," Snyder said. "And we expect to be able to pay for those services."

The board must lock in the real estate tax rate Tuesday. The board directed County Executive Craig S. Gerhart to prepare next year's budget based on the assumption that residents would have the same tax rate as they had last year, 75.7 cents per $100 of assessed value. With a decline in assessments because of the housing slowdown, most people will pay less in property taxes.

After the proposed budget for fiscal 2008 was released last week, supervisors said they began hearing from residents concerned about county jobs being cut and services being curtailed because of the tax rate.

"I hear from our teachers and our firefighters and our police officers that our budget is very austere," said Supervisor Maureen S. Caddigan (R-Dumfries).

Supervisor Hilda M. Barg (D-Woodbridge) said she had gotten many phone calls from residents in the past week about budget cuts. "I would ask us to be thinking this next week about considering the same tax bill as we had last year," Barg said.

Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R) said he was not ready to endorse one tax rate over the other. "This board has to decide as a whole what they want to do," Stewart said. "I do want to remind members that just because you don't hear from people doesn't mean they are not concerned about their tax bill. But I'm not promoting one side or another."

Barg answered in a stage whisper: "But we should also listen to the people we do hear from."

All members of the board are up for reelection this year, and there seems to be little desire to raise taxes. As a result, supervisors are looking at a budget in which the police department would have enough money to hire only two officers instead of the 22 it had planned to hire.

On Tuesday, the board began hearing from individual departments about the potential effects of the proposed budget. Police Chief Charlie T. Deane, in his presentation, said that playing "catch-up" with staffing is difficult.

The police department would have two years of "stagnant" staffing in terms of officers on the street, Deane said He added that because of the slowdown in hiring, morale may decline and the department's recruitment efforts could be "crippled."

"Our challenge continues to be to deal with the increasing population of the county," Deane said in an interview. "We need to continue to have the staffing levels to meet that challenge. But I understand the fiscal reality that the board has to deal with."

Although the current plan is to, in effect, cut property taxes by keeping them at the same rate, the board is considering charging more for activities such as youth sports and for development fees. The park department said that the budget would force it to close county pools one day a week and that maintenance on some athletic fields would be cut back.

Sharon E. Pandak, a Democrat who lost to Stewart in November in a special election for the board chairmanship, said the board should consider adjusting the tax rate.

"I have no fondness for taxes," she said, but she noted that not to fully fund public safety would be inconsistent with the county's thriving economy.

Pandak said in an interview that she is considering running for chairman again but has not made up her mind. "It's not even spring yet," she said when asked about her timetable for a decision.