By Cheryl Chumley

Published: March 24, 2008

It’s a last ditch effort that Prince William supervisors are waging Tuesday at 2 p.m. to try and set a fiscal year 2009 tax rate for advertisement.

But little seems changed on the strategy front, according to the board member who called for the special meeting by email last week, and how that bodes for tax rate agreement is by and large anybody’s guess.

“I’m still not sure what to expect,” said Supervisor Martin Nohe, R-Coles. “I haven’t put together any sort of compromise plan.”

Nohe said he solicited board members’ support for a special meeting on Wednesday after supervisors spent considerable time a day earlier trying to reach consensus on a tax rate to advertise, or to approve a resolution that would reschedule the April 7 public hearing on the budget. They failed on both fronts and without a planned meeting before April 1, the status of the advertised tax rate, the resolution, as well as the scheduling of budget talks and hearings all seemed in limbo.

Today’s meeting gives the supervisors one more chance, Nohe said, to keep budget talks on track – or at least pass a resolution formally canceling the upcoming public hearing.

“We have one last shot,” he said. “It would be irresponsible not to try.”

By law, four of the eight supervisors had to show support in order to call a special meeting. Nohe said he emailed the text of his request to all eight last Wednesday – and sent revised language on the advice of the county attorney minutes later – and received the first replies from supervisors Michael May, R-Occoquan, Frank Principi, D-Woodbridge and Maureen Caddigan, R-Dumfries. All gave the go-ahead, Nohe said.

In a brief telephone interview last week, Chairman Corey Stewart, R-At-Large, said he supported the emergency meeting as long as it wasn’t leading to more of the same – in other words, as long as members who sought the special gathering were operating from some sort of game plan. The supervisors have spent weeks debating rates that range from $1.032 to 96.8 cents, and have yet to reach agreement on any to send to advertisement.

Stewart’s unwavering support of the 96.8 cents per $100 assessed values to advertise as a tax rate stems from his push to keep the budget under control, while fully funding the priorities, he’s said on several occasions.

“It’s the only way to force county staff to reduce spending,” he said, in an interview last week about his push for the lowest rate, 96.8 cents. “If we lose it here [at the advertising stage] the fiscal liberals will win a huge tax increase.”

In an interview Monday morning, Supervisor John Jenkins, D-Neabsco, said he has not changed his mind about the logic of approving a $1.03 rate to advertisement, but he was willing to compromise as long as county and school needs were met. Those needs, he said, included police and the 25 additional officers needed to enforce the immigration resolution, as well as all the proposed new schools and teacher pay raises.

“I think the 96.8 cents is too low to advertise,” Jenkins said. “But I’m willing to compromise if I can be shown where additional revenues can be found. I just don’t want to be put in a box we can’t get out of.”

Jenkins pointed to politics as a factor in the supervisors’ inability so far to pass a rate to advertise and said some may have “taken a no-tax pledge” that is now hampering the board’s ability to move forward.

“I don’t think it’s a significant issue because we can always reduce the rate,” he said, in answer to what number would represent his personal cap to bring to advertisement.

Staff writer Cheryl Chumley can be reached at 703-670-1907.