Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart awoke to a surprise Friday morning: His Democratic counterpart in Fairfax County, Gerry Connolly, was announcing a budget shortfall of up to half a billion dollars.
He wasn’t speaking about Fairfax, which had previously reported a revenue shortfall of $430 million. Connolly was talking about Prince William.
“We think in Prince William County, [the shortfall] could be as much as a half a billion-dollar shortfall, bigger than Fairfax County, and as a percentage much bigger, almost a third of its budget,” Connolly said on WTOP radio’s “Politics Program With Mark Plotkin.”
The announcement came as news to Stewart, who called in to the show soon after to rebut Connolly.
“That’s not even close,” Stewart, R-at large, said on the show. “In fact, the county is not even facing a shortfall in the fiscal year ’09, unlike the tens of millions of dollars that Fairfax is facing under Gerry’s leadership, if you can call it that.
“If he’s going to represent Prince William County, he needs to get his facts straight and quit belittling and ridiculing Prince William County,” he added on the air.
Connolly, who is running for Congress in Virginia’s 11th District, would represent about one-third of Prince William residents if elected.
“Thank you for that partisan screed, Corey,” Connolly responded. “I don’t think recognizing the fact that there could be a revenue shortfall of that magnitude is belittling anyone; I think it’s recognizing the fact that we’re in a national economic crisis that is affecting us at the local level.”
Connolly referred to a recent e-mail sent by Prince William Executive Craig Gerhart telling agencies to prepare for cuts of up to 33 percent.
Stewart said Gerhart was simply preparing ahead of time, and commended the county executive during Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting for taking “proactive steps” in addressing the county’s budget.
