Milt Johns: Consider giving School Board taxing authority

A budget tug-of-war is being waged between the Prince William Board of County Supervisors and School Board, with each body claiming the other is should decide if a tax increase is necessary.

So the Chairman Milton C. Johns suggested Wednesday that perhaps taxing authority should be granted to the School Board.

The School Board is reviewing the 2013 budget proposed by Superintendent Steven L. Walts, a budget that includes no step increases for employees.

Coles District Supervisor Martin E. Nohe said Tuesday that the school board needs to ask the county to raise the tax rate if additional funds are needed.

In response Wednesday, Johns said maybe it should be up to his group alone.

“I think the time has come in Virginia to explore that,” Johns said. “It’s interesting that [the supervisors] want somebody else to take responsibility for their jobs.”

The partition in meeting room at the Kelly Leadership Center was removed to accommodate the county teachers who turned out to speak on the budget proposal. Many of them wore powder or navy blue shirts to show their solidarity in asking for revisions that would allow for raises. Some even wore their “Work to Rule” buttons used as part of the workday protest, which started Monday.

Since the budget was presented two weeks ago, schools employees have expressed their displeasure in various ways. At a public meeting last week on the budget, Johns and the School Board referred many who spoke to ask the supervisors to increase the tax rate so the schools budget would be increased under the revenue sharing agreement.

The supervisors then claimed it was the School Board’s responsibility to ask for an increase.

Before the end of the supervisors meeting, Nohe directed County Executive Melissa S. Peacor to ask the School Board if it wanted a tax increase, since the tax rate will be advertised early next week.

“We have folks from the Prince William Education Association who think the [schools] budget is falling short and are told to come to the Board of County Supervisors and ask for a change,” Nohe said. “The request has been [from PWEA] to make another tough decision and raise taxes.”

“The supervisors know our revenue requirements,” Johns said. “We provide them, at their request, a five-year budget. … If the board of supervisors choose to raise taxes at a 4.5 cent increase to the tax guidance, that would generate $10.9 million for the schools and increase the average tax bill by $10 a month.”

David S. Cline, Associate Superintendent for Finance and Support Services, stated during the meeting that amount would cover the $10.8 million loss of Cost of Competing Adjustment funds Governor Bob McDonnell recommended cut to Prince William County schools.

“If the Board of County Supervisors chooses to raise taxes by that amount,” Johns said, “I will support them in that.”

Peacor’s suggested a tax rate for the county is $1.215 per $100 of assessed value.

Johns’ position on taxing authority for the School Board is a complete reversal of his feelings when he first joined the board in 2004.

“Having served on the board for a little over eight years now,” he said, “I have definitely come around to the idea that school boards should have taxing authority and should be held responsible — for better or for worse — for tax rates and revenue decisions.”

No school boards in Virginia can levy taxes as it is prohibited in the commonwealth’s constitution and statutes. An amendment would be required for the School Board to be granted the power to levy taxes.

Johns asked Potomac District representative Betty D. Covington to bring it up to the Virginia School Boards Association, where she serves as a member at-large.

If the School Board were to get taxing authority — a far off goal right now — the revenue sharing agreement between the county and the school division would end. Currently, the system receives 56.75 percent of the county’s General Revenues, a higher percentage than Alexandria (35.9 percent), Arlington (49.1), Fairfax (52.7) and Loudoun (54.5).

“The way it’s set up,” Johns said, “you can see the organizational politics where the board of supervisors say, ‘You have to ask us to raise taxes.’ Well, it’s not our job to raise taxes. If we had taxing authority, and our portion of the budget was cleaved off, then the voters could vote the school board members out of office not just by spending, but by the taxing as well.

“I think, especially with elected school boards, that’s the time to put the taxing authority and spending authority together.”

Staff writer Joe Conroy can be reached at 703-530-3912.