Prince William budget mark-up goes through with nary a glitch

You know it's a smoothly flowing budget season when Republican Chairman Corey Stewart and Democrat Supervisor Frank Principi, who have publicly clashed over past board matters, actually agreed on the bulk of last-minute fiscal 2011 adjustments.

That's what happened Tuesday during budget mark-up, and as Stewart commented after his recommended changes were compared to Principi's, "It's a weird world."

Apparently, five of the nine items on Stewart's mark-up plan were also on Principi's.

At issue was what to put back in the budget that had been targeted for cutting under the county executive's plan. Stewart opened the work session with calls to restore funding in eight areas: for an administrative position for the internal auditing department; for the non-profits that faced 15 percent across-the-board cuts; for a substance abuse counselor at Potomac High School; for the adult outpatient substance abuse program; for the libraries so that all remain open for existing hours of operation; for two police officers and one sheriff's deputy; and for the free health care clinic.

"Talk about doing the Lord's work," Stewart said, about his suggestion to allot $20,000 a year for the clinic. "There are medical professionals out here volunteering their time … and they receive almost nothing in county funding. I would like to provide them $20,000 a year to help them leverage more funding."

The cost of restoring these programs, Stewart said, was $1.243 million, and with a $1.236 tax rate, would still allow $3.135 million in reserve funds. The more reserve funds, the better the bond rating -- and the better the bond rating, the lower the interest rates the county can receive.

And that translates into lower long-term costs for capital projects.

In a previous interview, Stewart indicated one of his primary concerns with this year's budget was to ensure the county put enough money back into reserves to receive favorable ratings from the two major bond raters, Fitch's and Moody's.

The justification to restore the 15 percent proposed funding cuts to local nonprofits came by way of basic business sense, Stewart said. For every dollar received from the county, a nonprofit could leverage it into $7, he explained. More than a dozen nonprofits, from Good Shepherd Housing and Project Mend-a-House to Legal Services of Northern Virginia and Prince William Speech and Hearing, had been targeted for the cut.

Following Stewart's mark-up presentation, Supervisor Wally Covington, R-Brentsville, asked for $12,500 to the Park Authority to help the Greater Manassas Baseball League, which largely serves the Prince William youth population, and for another $80,000 for a second sheriff's deputy.

Supervisor Maureen Caddigan, R-Dumfries, meanwhile, wanted to restore $130,000 in funding to hire two more police officers -- above and beyond the two already funded for $130,000 in Stewart's mark-up plan.

"The reason the sheriff's positions are more expensive is because they don't have the equipment [for them]," and would have to purchase it, said County Executive Melissa Peacor. The police department, on the other hand, already has equipment available for these four open officer positions.

Woodbridge's Principi said he agreed with the restoration proposals put forth, but also wanted funding put back for a code enforcement officer. Peacor said that position was left unfilled because the job was getting done under current staffing levels. Questions lingered, however, about which agency -- the non-profit Clean Community Council or the county's Neighborhood Services -- would perform graffiti clean-up in the future. The CCC is currently paid for this service, but doesn't want to do it any more, Principi and Peacor said.

"We need to find out why before the next week," Peacor said, agreeing with Principi that CCC should no longer be given county tax dollars for graffiti abatement if it no longer wants to run that program.

The supervisors gave preliminary support, via a unanimous straw poll, for a mark-up budget that now includes four police officers, two sheriff's deputies, money for the Manassas baseball league, and all of Stewart's restoration items.

The restoration items that were approved in addition to Stewart's plan totaled $293,379. All restoration items, including Stewart's, totaled $1.537 million, which still leaves $2.842 million for reserves.

The final budget will be voted on next week, during the board's April 27 meeting beginning at 2 p.m. at the McCoart Administration Building.

Staff writer Cheryl Chumley can be reached at 703-530-3903.