PWC Tea Party Patriots’ Statement on Adoption of County Budget

April 27, 2011

Dear Tea Party Patriots:

As you are aware the Prince William Board of Supervisors approved a nearly $900 million budget on April 26th. The budget passed on a 6-2 vote with Supervisors Mike May and John Stirrup voting against it. They also voted against the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP). The new tax rate starting July 1 will be $1.204 per $100 of assessed property value. This was lower than what was proposed by Melissa Preacor, County Executive. Incidentally, Ms. Preacor has a base salary of $210,000 vs. Governor McDonnell’s salary of $175,000. If you checked your recent property assessment notice you will more than likely find it went up from 3% to as much as 30% from 2010. So let there be no doubt in your mind that the increase in the budget is coming directly from you.

We wish to thank the many PWC tea party members who contacted Chairman Stewart and/or their local Supervisor to expressed their concerns and in some cases outrage at this tax and spend mentality. We were represented at the final budget hearing by five members of our tea party. Yale Schiffman, Deputy Chair spoke on behalf of the tea party. Tom Whitmore followed up on the article we recently sent you. Valerie Bond, Joanne Abbott and Chuck Jenks provided moral support to our speakers.

Chairman Stewart went on the attack after all citizen presentations came to a close. He was rather dismissive of the suggestion that we not undertake all the capital improvements at this time. He used the argument that it would cost more to borrow money and complete projects in the future. We don’t buy that line of reasoning. There isn’t any precise way to accurately predict the economic future. Chairman Stewart recognized that the state is supposed to build the roads. Yet, he was willing to let them off the hook and put the burden of making the road improvements on our backs. We’ve already paid the state via taxes and fees for the funds necessary for the road improvements. The Governor’s transportation plan allocated funds for Prince William County for roads. There was no need to raise our taxes to cover this cost. Chairman Stewart went on to make the point that building trails and expanding parks was a quality of life issue. It seemed like it was essential to him to make this happen. I guess your quality of life does not extend to paying your mortgage and dealing with the ever rising cost of food and gas. Chairman Stewart is playing Russian roulette with the budget process. He is hoping that the economy will continue to improve. We all hope for that. But the statistics on the condition of the housing market do not paint such a rosy picture. Median Sales prices over the past year are down 3.4%. In March 2011, they are down 7.4%. (Source: MRIS). The county relies on its real estate tax base to fund its budget. If Prince William County’s leadership continues this trend to spend and spend and spend into the future, you can do the math. Your taxes will continue to rise.

The only good news to report is that two Supervisors – Mike May of Occoquan and John Stirrup of Gainesville not only understand the tea party message but have the backbone to stand up to Chairman Stewart and the rest of the tax and spend Board. They voted against the Budget and the Capital Improvement Plan. They went as far as offering an alternative motion for a lower tax rate that would remove the markups including trails and libraries as well as some staff positions. Chairman Stewart was not happy and referred to Mike May’s motion as an unfriendly motion. As someone who is familiar with Robert’s Rules of Order, it is my opinion that it was not necessary to do that, except to show his displeasure at being challenged. Our hats are off to these two patriots. They deserve all the support we can give them during this upcoming election season. We want them to know that doing the “right thing” can have positive results.

Nancy and Yale Schiffman

Prince William County Tea Party Patriots

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