Denise Oppenhagen
Published: May 4, 2008

Well, it’s finally done. The Prince William Board of County Supervisors have finally decided on a tax rate and, thus, a budget.  It’s been a long process and, in the end, I fear that we are in for a tumultuous year.

Anytime I talk to a “fiscal conservative” about having a higher tax rate, the first question I hear is, “do you want to pay more taxes?” It’s not really a germane question for the debate. No, I don’t want to pay higher taxes. But I realize that some things cost money and sometimes there is a need to increase the tax rate in order to have sufficient resources to maintain a good quality of life.  What kinds of things do I think are worth increasing taxes for?

(1) Education. Teachers must be paid more. I said this a few weeks ago and I’ll say it again.  Teachers are working harder and harder for no additional money.  They shell out their own money to get classroom materials for their students. They tutor children after school, take classes to get new ideas to reach the less motivated students, they coach sports and academic teams in order to give students additional opportunities.  How much do I think teachers should make? I don’t have a dollar amount, but let’s say that when it gets to where children want to be teachers rather than sports stars, we’ll be there.

(2) Safety. Regardless of their intended use, police cars should be equipped with cameras. Our officers ride alone and the streets are getting more and more dangerous.  A camera might save a life or two down the road. And I think we need some more officers. 

(3) Outdoor recreation. This is important to me because I use a school’s track to run on. A lot of people use the schools for team sports. Physical activity is really important and we should encourage it. And if you have been to Fairfax or Stafford to see your children play a sport, you know how much nicer their tracks are (and their fields). We deserve it.

But those on the board who are against taxes have won this round.  But I’m afraid they are going to lose the war. As gasoline prices continue to go up, things are going to become more expensive.
Running school buses is going to eat a larger portion of the budgets of the county and the schools. And not just the buses, but any motor vehicle use by the county — including fire trucks, police cars, inspection vehicles — the cost of all that is going to go up. 

The impact will be felt by businesses in the county as well. Increased gas costs will be reflected in increased cost for goods and services. This will be passed on to us and we may or may not be able to afford it. We will start cutting back on nonessentials — Starbucks and Panera come to mind as to the restaurants and movie theaters. This will cause a decrease in the sales taxes generated in the county, which will decrease the revenue even more. 

The supervisors need to remember that we are in a recession (not officially, but we only missed the boat by tenths of a percentage).  Housing sales are predicted to stay slow for a while. For a county that generates most of its revenue from property taxes, this is not good news. Home prices may even go down a bit more. That is going to create havoc for next year. 

One thing that must happen is that we must move on from the conversation about illegal immigration. Prince William County has made its point. We are opposed to illegal immigration. We have made the situation in the county untenable for many of our residents. Enough. Our supervisors need to start looking at more important matters, like education, safety, and transportation. They need to be pessimistic about economic improvement and prepare for the worst. Then they will be doing the job they ignored for the last year or so.

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