STAFFORD — Residents on Tuesday night pleaded with Stafford County leaders to raise their taxes.
They say the county’s current tax rate of 99 cents per every $100 of the assessed residential property would provide needed money to repair and rebuild crumbling schools, and improve the county’s transportation network.
County Administrator Thomas Foley proposed a budget this year that would lower the rate to .965 cents per every $100 assessed, instead of allowing increased property assessments to generate more cash for county coffers, with the average property tax bill for a home valued at $301,300 going up $145 a year to $2,907.
The current 99 cents tax rate generates an average tax bill of $2,983, a difference of $76.
The Board of Supervisors is set to adopt a tax rate at its April 24 meeting and on Tuesday encouraged residents to come before the Board and speak about the needs of the county. The Board may choose to set the rate lower than 99 cents but it cannot set it higher.
No one came to the meeting to speak in favor of the lower tax rate. Tax rates have fallen from an eight-year high of $1.08 in 2012 to the 99 cents approved for fiscal 2018.
“Over the years, you’ve tried to keep taxes low or lower to please Stanford’s conservative base. Keep taxes low and teachers will leave,” Heidi Freeman, a Stafford County English teacher told the Board of Supervisors.
“I think you should raise my taxes,” said Stafford resident Alane Calendar. “We’ve got too many problems in this county.”
“On many days, the bathrooms at Hartwood Elementary School aren’t working, and if they are, they’re iffy,” said one teacher who spoke before the Board. “I didn’t move to Woodbridge. I didn’t move to Fredericksburg. I moved here because the schools were amazing and now they’re declining.”
A complete rebuild of Hartwood Elementary School and the revitalization of Moncure and Ferry Farm elementary schools are on a joint list of capital improvement projects agreed upon by both the Board of Supervisors and the county’s School Board.
The most expensive capital improvement project and the county’s top funding priority is a new $71 million courthouse across from the sheriff’s office.
Here’s the full list provided by county spokeswoman Shannon Howell:
· New Courthouse: The new proposed courthouse would include construction of a proposed 178,000 square foot three-story Courthouse with partial basement and be located on county-owned land across Courthouse Road from the Public Safety Building. Courtrooms could include four General District, six Circuit and six Juvenile and Domestic courtrooms.
· High School #6 Planned for the current site of Westlake subdivision located south of Rt. 17.
· Renovate/Additions to Ferry Farm Elementary School – Provides for the renovation of the school to be within the most current elementary school education specifications.
· Rebuild Moncure Elementary School – the final $1,000,000 for the rebuild of a new Moncure Elementary School as a 966 student school.
· Renovate/Additions Moncure Elementary School – the project details renovating the current Moncure Elementary School to relieve growing enrollment pressures in the northern end of the County.
· Rebuild Hartwood Elementary School – this is the only school not on County sewer and water. The School Division is proposing a rebuild within the limits of an urban service district.
· Purchase and renovate Fredericksburg Christian School – this would create a northern pre-school building with 21 classrooms to serve this population.
