Taking steps to decide

Denise Oppenhagen
Published: March 22, 2008

I frequently find myself in stressful situations. Often it’s because after I see the big picture, I get tied up in the small details. I know what it is I want to accomplish; getting there can be overwhelming.
When this happens, I need to step away and think about something else for a while to clear my head. When I come back to the problem, I make a list of the details and try to take care of the ones that aren’t terribly controversial. This way I get the problem to manageable proportions and usually get it quickly solved.

After seeing our Board of Supervisors spend so much time recently trying to decide what to set as the published proposed tax rate, I find myself wondering why they haven’t taken the same steps. Setting the final budget is a stressful situation.  Many of our supervisors won office on the basis of lowering taxes.  This philosophy was great when housing prices soared and there was almost more money in the bank than they knew what to do with. But now, hard decisions need to be made and that is where the supervisors are having difficulty.

There are some steps the board needs to take before it makes that final decision. Among them are what level to fund schools at; whether the citizens of Prince William County do, indeed, support raising taxes to pay for the illegal immigration crackdown; how to fix our roads; how to keep up with the needs of the citizens of the county; how to provide enough police officers and fire fighters to serve the citizens of the county.

These are the big decisions that need to be made. And in thinking about it all together, the supervisors are probably getting quite stressed. There is limited time, however, within which to pass a budget so the board probably doesn’t have the luxury of taking a time-out. So, to make the situation less overwhelming, take care of the easy things first. And to me, setting the published tax rate is easy.

The published rate does not represent what the tax rate is or definitely will be. All it represents is the maximum rate that the board can consider. The time that this is taking away from real discussions
about the budget is disproportionate to its importance.  Set the rate already. Set it high and then have the substantive discussions about what the final amount will be. 

Why is this debate taking up so much time? Unfortunately, the only answers I have to that question are cynical. By setting a low published rate, the supervisors tie their hands. They won’t have to listen to their constituents; the low rate determines the lack of money for programs so no need for citizens to speak out at citizen’s time. They won’t have to listen to the School Board express the need for full funding of the superintendent’s proposed budget; the low rate sets the amount by virtue of the established agreement. They won’t have to justify the lack of funding for the illegal immigration legislation; the low rate eliminates the ability to include that new expenditure. By setting a low published rate, the supervisors will effectively remove their accountability for any fall-out that turns negative. 

By delaying publication of a proposed tax rate, the supervisors increase the odds that budget talks will turn hurried and mindful decisions will not be made. I don’t recall this much trouble before. All I can think is that our budget is not the priority for all the members of the board. Perhaps there are ulterior political motives for this delay. I don’t know. But what I do know is that this decision must be made, must be made quickly, and should be made at the highest rate being proposed at this time.

Then we can let the real debate begin.

Denise Oppenhagen is a longtime resident of Prince William County and can be reached at .