Chairman Candidates Talk Growth, Taxes

The three men vying to be Prince William County’s next chairman recently met with residents to discuss the best way to address the county’s growing pains and higher taxes.

Incumbent chairman , Democrat and Independentanswered questions from the business community last Tuesday.

All three candidates agreed that one way to deal with both issues is to make the county more business-friendly.

One topic discussed by the candidates was to restructure or eliminate the Business Professional Occupational License tax (BPOL), which isn’t very popular among the business crowd.

The county’s residential to commercial ratio is 80:20, which highlights the need for more commercial development to offset the sprawl in the area. The Washington Post reported that the overall population in the county increased nearly 40 percent in a decade, adding nearly 30,000 residents in the Linton Hall corridor alone.

Lateef, a business owner for nine years, said the county should get rid of the tax and look for other ways to generate revenue. This, he said, would attract more companies to the county.

Stewart said there should be long-term BPOL tax reform, which he referred to as a “regressive tax,” but he disagreed it should be eliminated because it does generate revenue for the county, which CNN Money named as a leader in job creation between 2000 and 2009.  

The county was able to draw in $27 million in state funding for new roads, libraries and parks. All of this, Stewart said, provides a better quality of life, which draws in business and creates a business friendly environment.

Gray said the BPOL tax is just another “unfriendly business tactic” that should be repealed, along with business license fees and high property taxes. Gray used Stafford County as an example of what eliminating the BPOL tax could do. The Stafford County Board of Supervisors repealed the BPOL tax in 2010, and Gray said business owners are setting up shop there instead of Prince William County.

The BPOL tax generated $21 million in revenue last year, Gray said. He wants county rules and regulations to be more business friendly so that the commercial tax base grows, and the $2.9 million in “over-collected” real estate taxes last year could be returned to the taxpayers.

Lateef said the county should look for ways to generate revenues elsewhere and could do this by attracting more businesses.  He proposed doing this by increasing the availability of education and vocational training opportunities in the county, and improving the county’s infrastructure to keep up with the booming residential development. Expanding educational opportunities creates a stronger workforce, which is attractive to companies, Lateef said.

Lateef also said he signed the county’s Rural Crescent Pledge, which focuses on reinvesting in existing developed areas and protecting open space and farmland.

Lateef attacked Stewart for not sticking to the county’s growth guide called the Comprehensive Plan that promotes smart growth.

Stewart said the county is moving fast with projects designed to meet Comprehensive Plan goals. He said the county has seen the most development in the past 15 years and will continue on this path by investing $270 million in new road projects, The county board also agreed to invest $400 million into libraries and $200 million for parks. He also said the county is working to move the along Interstate 95.

The candidates also discussed transportation projects that could help with the county’s lack of infastructure. A long-term option discussed was Metro rail and the short-term options mentioned were bus rapid transit and VRE expansion.

The option of a bi- or tri-county parkway, proposed by the state, is also being considered and would connect residents to Dulles Airport.

Still, some candidates, including Suzanne Miller, who is running for the Gainesville supervisor position said the plans for the bi- and tri-county parkways need to be carefully looked at to determine which plan (if any) would fit the needs of county residents. 

The bi-county parkway plan is scrutinized for its lack of direct access to Dulles and the tri-county parkway for its threat to the Rural Crescent.

Miller said the county also needs to look at  “local jobs and business, so we don’t have to commute out.”