Same Tax Rates, Employee Pay Increases In New Prince William County Budget Proposal

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VA — Tax rates are proposed to remain the same in Prince William County's proposed budget, but rising assessment values would still cause real estate tax bills to increase.

County Executive Chris Shorter presented the fiscal year 2026 budget proposal to the Board of County Supervisors Tuesday. The $1.99 billion budget factors in pay increases for employees, staffing and technology improvements, funding for Prince William County Public Schools, plans to advance the Crisis Receiving Center project, and improvements to park facilities.

"You will see that really throughout this budget, we are a growing county with growing expectations, and we have to be the kind of government that could meet the needs of our growing county," Shorter told the board.

The budget would keep the real estate tax rate at $0.92 per $100 of assessed value. The county estimated the average residential tax bill would jump by $276 and total $5,165.

Last year's approved budget decreased the tax rate from $0.966 to $0.920 per $100 of assessed value, which the county said would increase the average residential tax bill by $26.

In addition to the standard tax rate, the fire levy is proposed to remain the same at $0.072, prompting the average residential tax bill to increase by $22.

The personal property tax on vehicles and computers and peripherals would remain at $3.70 per $100 of assessed value. Last year, the Board of County Supervisors increased the business computer and peripherals rate, which affects data center equipment, from $2.15 to $3.70 per $100 of assessed value to match the vehicle tax rate.

No solid waste fee increase is proposed in the budget. The stormwater utility fee would increase by about 3 percent. Single-family homes, townhouses and multifamily units would see bills rise just over $1.

The budget incorporates decisions that the county board has already made, such as collective bargaining. Collective bargaining agreements ratified in January 2024 with the International Association of Fire Firefighters Local 2598 and Prince William County Police Association will contribute to an $8.3 million funding commitment in the proposed budget. This includes the second year of a two-year commitment for a 1.25 percent market scale adjustment ($1.1 million), one-time police $1,000 bonus ($700,000), and 30 more full-time fire and rescue positions for $6.5 million to phase in the 50-hour work schedule agreement.

Other funding commitments include $1 million for maintaining and operating the recently acquired Rollins Farm and Ned Distiller House, $800,000 for the fire and rescue's in-house pharmacy program, $600,000 for legal matters tied to data centers, $1.5 million for a county contingency fund and $200,000 for board committees.

On the employee compensation side, the budget proposes $10.3 million for a 3 percent step increase for public safety employees and 3 percent merit increase for general county employees. An additional $3.4 million is proposed for employee health and dental, and $100,000 for retiree health.

The sheriff's office has its own proposed pay increases separate from the other public safety employees. In response to a compensation study, sheriff's office employees would get a 1.25 percent pay scale adjustment and 3 percent step increase. Adult Detention Center staff would get pay scale adjustments between 5.72 percent and 9.34 percent.

Compensation studies for police and fire are expected to be completed this spring, according to Shorter. That will factor into collective bargaining wage re-opener negotiations starting in the spring. Shorter says the negotiations will not impact the proposed budget but could impact next year's fiscal year 2027 budget. A classification and compensation study for general government employees is also being pursued, with possible budget impacts in fiscal year 2027.

To boost staffing, the budget is proposing 20 more sworn and three professional police department staff, eight Commonwealth's Attorney office staff, four sheriff's deputies, and other staffing increases for various departments.

A proposed $5.7 million would support the Crisis Receiving Center, which the county expects to open in summer 2025. The center will be focused on mental health service with short-term care for adults and youth. The funds will allow operations to begin while the county seeks a Medicaid waiver, which could take 18 to 24 months for approval.

For Prince William County Public Schools, the county transfer would increase by $82.5 million. The county has a revenue-sharing agreement to provide 57.23 percent of the general fund to PWCS. Last year, the approved budget provided a $105.1 million increase to PWCS.

In addition, the budget proposes maintaining a class size grant for $1 million, continued Gainesville High School debt service for $800,000, school security for $500,000, $1.2 million for Northern Virginia Community College early college and workforce development programs, and more initiatives. The Prince William County School Board is considering the budget proposal from the superintendent and will have final budget approval on March 20.

For transportation, Prince William County is seeking to fully fund OmniRide's funding request. However, the budget proposes grantor's tax for mobility and transient occupancy tax but not general fund revenue for the OmniRide subsidy. The Virginia Railway Express subsidy would be maintained using $5.8 million in Northern Virginia Transportation Authority 30 percent funds.

The budget proposal will be followed by budget work sessions and public hearings before the Board of County Supervisors adopts a final budget on April 22. The full budget proposal is available on the county's budget website.

Here is the schedule:

• Feb. 22: Virtual community meeting
• Feb. 25: Proposed Capital Improvement Program
• March 4: Landfill Sunday opening and solid waste budget work session
• March 11: Fire and rescue station construction budget work session
• March 11: IT hardware replacement and 311 constituent digital services
• March 18: General revenue forecast
• March 18: Budget public hearing
• April 1: Board of County Supervisors questions and answers
• April 1: Prince William County Public Schools budget presentation
• April 8: Budget recap
• April 8: Budget and tax rates/fees public hearing
• April 15: Budget markup
• April 22: Budget adoption