Some Budget Cuts To Be Restored

Pool Closings Among Plans Revisited

After weeks of looking for ways to save money by cutting programs, eliminating jobs and even closing community pools one day a week in the summer, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors will reverse course and spend the next 10 days looking to restore some funding after additional revenue was discovered from state and local sources.

How much money the board will be able to restore to the budget depends on the residential real estate tax rate it approves. The proposed budget was based on a rate of 75.8 cents per $100 of assessed value. The board voted to advertise a 78.7-cent rate. It could vote to adopt either rate, or one in between.

The county staff reported to the board at its meeting Tuesday that if the supervisors pass the lower rate, the board will be able to restore about $1.8 million of the cuts to the budget. If they stick with the advertised rate, the board will have about $9 million available to restore in the county's spending plan. The county staff also identified about $49 million in spending that was proposed by departments during the budget review process or by residents during a hearing last week.

The final budget is scheduled for a vote at the April 24 meeting.

Although no decisions were made at Tuesday's meeting, some board members indicated a preference for programs during a staff review of the spending plan. No item generated more comments than the Park Authority's plan to close community pools one day a week during the summer to save $29,403.

"Are you telling me that it's only $30,000 to keep the pools open?" said Supervisor Hilda M. Barg (D-Woodbridge). "We spend thousands of dollars to open the pools, and then we are going to close them one day a week? This is the silliest thing I have ever heard."

She said closing the pools would affect low-income families and noted that swim teams would still be able to use the pools when they are closed to the public.

"Swim teams will get priority," she said. "If you are a member of an elite swim team, then you get to go, but if you are a poor child, you don't get to go. If we eliminate the pools for one child, we should eliminate them for all children."

Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R) said he had "a feeling we will be restoring the pool funding."

Stewart also said that the board may be able to fund the Manassas adult day-care center, which had been slated to close under cuts proposed for the fiscal 2008 budget. Families filled the board chambers in recent weeks protesting the proposal, which would save the county about $249,000. In addition, Stewart said a much-criticized elimination of a nurse at county senior centers could be restored at a cost of $40,092. The board also indicated that it may restore funding for a program for severely retarded students making a transition from school to a vocational setting.

The biggest expenditures the board will be looking at is the cost of hiring more police officers and firefighters, as well as performance raises for county employees, which were not part of the budget proposal. Restoring the 3 percent merit pay increases would cost about $2.5 million. The current budget proposal calls for hiring two police officers instead of 20, plus four civilians the department had expected under the county's five-year plan. Hiring another 18 officers, plus four civilians, would cost about $2.8 million.

The board will be finalizing the budget as the election season gets underway. Tomorrow is the filing deadline for candidates for the Board of County Supervisors. Seven of the eight board members have said they will seek reelection.

There has been speculation that Barg will retire, and she is expected to announce her intentions today. It is also widely anticipated that Sharon E. Pandak, a Democrat, will run against Stewart in a rematch of last fall's special election.

At the meeting Tuesday, Supervisor W.S. Covington III (R-Brentsville) had the last word on the swimming pool debate when he asked a staff member how many community pools would be affected in his district by the closings. He hardly waited for the answer. "We don't have any pools in my district," he said. "The kids will go without pools, just like the sewer," he said, referring to a lack of public sewers in some parts of his district, which drew laughter from the rest of the board.