Loudoun County supervisors approved a budget for the coming fiscal year that will chop funding for public schools and raise the property tax rate to one of the highest levels in the Washington area.
The budget for fiscal 2010, which starts July 1, slashes $14.6 million from the schools’ budget and is a 5 percent drop from the current budget. It eliminates about 90 county jobs, approximately one-third of which were filled. Fifteen building inspector positions and five other vacant positions in the Building and Development Department were among the notable cuts, which will save the county about $1.5 million.
Salaries for county employees were frozen and the deferred compensation match for employees was eliminated, trimming about $6.5 million from the budget.
The approved property tax rate of $1.245 per $100 of assessed value is a 10.5-cent increase over the current year, but is 4.5 cents below the rate County Administrator Kirby Bowers proposed in his budget in February. Prince William has advertised a maximum tax rate of $1.212, but that does not include a 7-cent levy on fire and rescue services.
Because property values have fallen rapidly, Loudoun residents’ average tax bills will drop by about $350 next year. With the housing boom of the 1990s and early 2000s, property tax bills have not fallen since 1995, noted Vice Chairman Susan Buckley, D-Sugarland Run.
The debate over the budget turned heated Tuesday, after a month of hearings and testimony from teachers, parents and residents.
Eugene Delgaudio, R-Sterling, called out supervisors Jim Burton, I-Blue Ridge, and Stevens Miller, D-Dulles, when arguing about the budget, and Miller took exception to his remarks.
“Don’t use this dais to lecture me, sir,” Miller shot back. “I live here [in Sterling], too.”
Delgaudio then shouted over Chairman Scott York’s pleas to get him to yield the floor.
Despite the arguments, though, the common theme among the majority of supervisors was compromise.
“We have met on March 2, 4, 11, 12, 16, 18, 24, 25 and 30,” Burton said. “I think everyone on this board has had ample time to present their arguments … we should get it over with.”
