Prince William County can’t afford to save for even worse financial times as it tries to fix a multimillion-dollar shortfall, county officials said Tuesday.
Prince William County Executive Craig Gerhart abandoned plans to save $4.8 million this year to prepare for a lingering economic downturn and proposed a new slate of $1.27 million in spending cuts to balance the county’s nearly $900 million budget.
The move and several other cost savings would help close an $8.1 million shortfall in the county budget, while school leaders will meet tonight to discuss how to address a lingering $10.6 million shortfall in the public schools budget.
The county’s $7.1 million rainy-day account uses savings from the boom years to help the county endure shortfalls without having to dip into a much larger $61 million rainy-day fund, which supervisors consider untouchable.
While supervisors could decide to empty out the smaller account to help reduce a projected 27 percent increase in the tax rate at a budget meeting next week, Gerhart advised Tuesday against using the money this year because the county’s economic downturn is expected to last.
“This is going to get worse before it gets better,” he said. “Our recommendation is you do not use that money until we see things turning around.”
Home foreclosure filings, which helped drive property values down 15 percent last year, are rising in 2008, with more than 4,000 homeowners already filing for foreclosure by April 1.
Cutting spending proved difficult due to the growing cost of the illegal-immigration crackdown and jail overcrowding, which will require a combined $628,000 in additional funding, Gerhart said.
The hardest-hit services would be the clerk of court’s office, which will lose $537,000, the county’s police department, which will lose $430,000 in funding, and a community program for at-risk youth, facing $183,000 in cuts. The prosecutor’s office, sheriff’s office, electoral board, finance department and social services will also face cuts of up to $82,000.
