Printer-Friendly
Email this Story
Post a Comment (1)
County drafts budget with painful cuts
In next year's budget, Loudoun County and its schools will face millions in cuts, and homeowners will either pay higher taxes or sacrifice many of the services they've come to expect.
“The revenue picture we're seeing is not getting better -- it's still declining,” said Supervisor Jim Burton (I-Blue Ridge) who heads the county's finance committee. “The easy thing to do would be just raise taxes to handle our shortfall, but that would have a tremendous impact on a lot of people, and we have to keep that in mind.”
Ahead of next year's difficult budget deliberations, the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 19 instructed county staff to begin preparing draft budgets for fiscal year 2011 based on different levels of funding. The county's costs have increased $85 million due to new county and school facilities and the 3,000 new students expected next year.
The current scenarios:
• No change from last year's local tax revenue. County staff members are unsure if the real property tax rate would have to increase to keep tax bills the same.
• 5 percent increase in local tax revenue. This would likely require a real property tax increase – projected at $1.37 per $100 of assessed value, up from the current rate of $1.245.
Supervisors will be discussing even deeper potential cuts but have not yet instructed staff to consider them. These cuts would represent a 5 percent decrease from last year's local tax funding.
Supervisors will schedule a meeting between the full School Board and Board of Supervisors to discuss the implications of that option, which would include cuts much deeper than any considered last year.
“I don't want to put absolute fear out there of draconian actions, but we're facing a serious situation and we need to talk about these implications,” Burton said. “The impact of what we may have to do is so dramatic that we need to have a policy discussion on size of government and the services that may or may not be reduced or eliminated.”
Supervisors also asked county staff to report back to them for a discussion on next year's tax rate before the rate is advertised. Once a proposed rate is public, it cannot be raised.
“We have never faced this kind of situation in the past and it needs to be a collaborative work between us and the staff,” Burton said.
The budget motion, along with the amendment on the tax rate, passed by a vote of 6-3. Supervisors Eugene Delgaudio (R-Sterling), Stevens Miller (D-Dulles) and Lori Waters (R-Broad Run) voted against it.
I say we take the 'services' hit. After all, why do we need full time staff strolling the streets looking for cars that don't have a county sticker? This registered locality data is provided by the DMV anyway. How do I know this exist, because my mother visiting the county for 'one' week got a ticket. When we questioned it, we were told that if you have a visitor, you must inform the police department for permission. Now that is a waste! Granted they canceled the ticket, but, how many staff members operate this 'service'?
Posted by m98cox
Report Offensive Content
You must be logged in to post a comment.