In a year-end interview with WTOP, Deshundra Jefferson, chair of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, covered everything from data centers to federal job cuts to tax breaks.
In an end-of-the-year interview with WTOP, Chair of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors Deshundra Jefferson covered everything from data centers to federal job cuts to tax breaks.
Jefferson said she’s been proud of how they’ve been able to put aside differences for progress.
“The fact that we are able to work together and reach across the aisle has been amazing,” she said. “If Prince William County wants to continue on our current trajectory, if we want to continue to grow, if we want to be a community of choice, we have to pull together to make that happen.”
One of the biggest changes Jefferson was excited about this year was a tax cut that she said has been a long time coming.
“The board was able to lower the personal property tax, aka the dreaded car tax, for the first time in 35 years. That is a significant accomplishment, and it was a bipartisan vote,” she said.
With residents pushing back on the addition of data centers, Jefferson said, “Yes, they bring revenue to counties, but they also have a huge opportunity cost, and that’s one of the things we’re really starting to grapple with.”
She said she’s unsure of what data centers will look like in the future with technological advancements.
“I sometimes wonder if we’re in a bubble with data centers,” she said. “I do think that they will evolve. I do think at some point they will not need as much space.”
Jefferson said that there’s a lot that they don’t know about data centers and there’s a lot more information to come.
“So you have to also start thinking about the future,” she said. “What’s going to happen when we no longer need these massive data storage warehouses? What is the plan for decommissioning them?”
When it comes to dealing with the federal job cuts this year, she said about 12% of the Prince William County workforce was employed by the federal government, and this year, the county felt the impact of the cuts.
“We’ve had a number of job fairs and resource fairs,” Jefferson said. “We put up a page on the county website giving people information about starting a new business, looking for a job, going back to school, workforce development.”
WTOP’s Scott Gelman contributed to this report.
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The Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday is expected to make a critical decision that could decide the fate of a proposed multimillion dollar indoor athletics facility.
Prince William County is considering developing an over $100 million indoor athletics facility. (Courtesy MEB)
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday is expected to make a critical decision that could decide the fate of a proposed multimillion dollar indoor athletics facility.
The board has until May 20 to decide whether to finalize purchase of a $15 million Woodbridge property that is currently under contract by the county with plans for a national destination for sporting and other types of events, as well as a local hub for use by athletic organizations.
Seth Hendler-Voss, director of Prince William County’s Department of Parks and Recreation who has headed the project, said on Friday the land will go to closing next month unless the board takes action to terminate the agreement.
The board declining to purchase the land would almost certainly kill the proposal in its entirety, Hendler-Voss said. It’s not clear that the board has the support necessary for the sportsplex as concerns abound with the project’s steep $140 million price tag. But there may still be an appetite to purchase the land for potential alternative uses.
Board Chair Deshundra Jefferson, a lone Democrat who is skeptical of the sportsplex proposal and could be a critical swing vote, said in a Friday interview she is likely to back the land purchase as the site could still be used by the county for other purposes. Jefferson said she is “not at liberty” to disclose other potential uses for the property that are in talks among county officials.
The board’s other seven members didn’t return requests for comment on whether they will support the land acquisition, but Democrats who hold a majority have largely been supportive of advancing the sportsplex.
The multiuse facility, which could be the largest of its kind in the Washington region, is proposed for 13505 Telegraph Road along the Interstate 95 corridor, which officials say is ideal to attract clientele for large events from across the East Coast. The facility would feature a hydraulic running track and hard-surface courts used for basketball, pickleball and space for conventions or other events.
The most recent renderings for a proposed multiuse sports facility that would feature a hydraulic running track and hard-surface courts used for basketball, pickleball and space for conventions or other events. (Prince William County)
Republicans and Jefferson have expressed concern about the project’s cost. Most other Democrats say the facility would be a boon for the growing community and provide youth athletes a state-of-the-art facility close to home for them to train and compete in. They also touted it as a potential driver of economic activity for the surrounding area.
Gainesville Supervisor Bob Weir, a Republican who opposes the plan, has said several times in recent weeks the board lacks the support necessary for the project.
Projections from consultants retained by the county show that, if the facility is approved, it will become profitable by its third year in use, netting the county more than $400,000 in revenue that’s expected to marginally grow in subsequent years. But the facility would operate in the red at the expense of taxpayers for its first two years in operation.
The board has thus far expended $1 million to allow recreation officials to begin talks with several contractors to flesh out the proposal. It also accounted for an agreement reached with the Telegraph Road site’s current property owner, Belno, LLC, to further sale negotiations.
Officials indicated the nearest major competitor to the facility would be a similar site in Virginia Beach and Spooky Nook Sports, the country’s largest indoor sports facility located just outside of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Project proponents, including Prince William Economic Development Director Christina Winn, have said it would become a key piece of sports tourism for the county and serve as a catalyst for additional development in the area. Winn said the surrounding area is primed for additional hotel development that could serve the more than 60,000 annual visitors the sportsplex is projected to draw.
Officials say the expected surge in sports tourism will also help boost the county’s small businesses as parents travel to their children’s sporting events and spend money on meals and merchandise while staying nearby, sometimes for days at a time.
The county has held a number of town hall-style meetings to solicit input from residents on the proposal. Its proponents include high school student athletes, an Olympic gold medalist in track, local coaches, sports league organizers and members of the pickleball community. Several public school student-athletes, coaches and parents have spoken of the lengthy travel times they endure to attend track meets since there isn’t a facility nearby.
The county board in 2019 considered an indoor sports complex as part of a bond referendum program for parks, but the proposal ultimately died because of cost concerns.
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to partially fund the steep subsidy sought by OmniRide, filling much of the multimillion dollar budget shortfall faced by the bus system.
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Tuesday agreed to partially fund the steep subsidy sought by OmniRide, filling much of the multimillion dollar budget shortfall faced by the bus system.
But the board is only willing to fund $29.4 million of the $33.3 million requested by the agency that oversees OmniRide, leaving a remaining $3.9 million shortfall. The agency – the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission – previously warned it will be forced to cut service if it can’t secure enough local funding to offset its rising costs, although it’s not immediately clear what those service cuts might look like.
“PRTC has prepared some preliminary and prioritized recommendations should the entire budget process leave a shortfall,” a spokesperson for the agency said when asked about the impact of the board declining to fully fund the subsidy request. “Remaining decision points include Prince William County’s final budget meeting on April 23, a scheduled public hearing on May 15, and two additional commission meetings, all of which will shape the final outcome.”
The board on Tuesday informally approved the funding, but it’s expected to be finalized next week when the county budget is adopted on April 23. It will go into effect July 1.
The funding was preliminarily approved with the backing of Democratic chair Deshundra Jefferson and Democratic Occoquan Supervisor Kenny Boddye, Woodbridge Supervisor Margaret Franklin and Neabsco Supervisor Victor Angry and Republican Gainesville Supervisor Bob Weir and Brentsville Supervisor Tom Gordy.
Coles Supervisor Yesli Vega, a Republican, and Potomac Supervisor Andrea Bailey, a Democrat, opposed filling the budget shortfall. Bailey and Boddye attempted to convince the board to fill the $3.9 million gap but couldn’t garner enough support.
Funding sources
OmniRide has historically been subsidized in Prince William through a motor fuel tax, which is projected not to bring in nearly enough to cover the total the transit agency is requesting from the county.
The board will be dipping into additional tax funds to come closer to meeting the request, pulling $4.7 million from the grantor’s tax and $4.5 million from a tax on hotel rooms.
Rising costs fueled by inflation and the drying up of pandemic relief dollars has led the transit agency to need substantially more money than past budget cycles, according to agency officials.
Inflation has driven up the cost of bus materials, insurance and wages. OmniRide is competing for the same workforce as other regional bus transit agencies, which is also driving up labor costs, as is a collective bargaining agreement reached last year after a strike by drivers.
County transportation staff argued that the board fully funding OmniRide’s requested subsidy would be unsustainable and create a massive spending deficit for the county in the coming years.
There was little political appetite to fully bail out the agency that some officials claim has poorly managed its spending in recent years.
Although members of the board broadly support the county’s need for robust bus service, they weren’t comfortable giving the agency the full request without assurances the bus system is taking initiative to find additional revenue sources beyond the county’s coffers.
Jefferson, a Democrat who frequently commutes via OmniRide into Washington, said she “begrudgingly” supported the funding shortfall and indicated she has “no confidence” in OmniRide leadership.
Gordy added, “In my view, we’re being taken advantage of and that there is … arrogance that somehow a 60% budget increase can be thrown at us and that we would somehow just take it.”
As of fiscal 2023, OmniRide had more than 150 buses and completed more than 1.5 million passenger trips annually. The agency operates express and local bus services around the Interstate 95 and Interstate 66 corridors. Its six member jurisdictions are Prince William, Stafford and Spotsylvania counties and the cities of Manassas, Manassas Park and Fredericksburg.
Prince William Board of County Supervisors are studying the feasibility of a program to help county employees afford homes in Prince William so they can live closer to work.
Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chair Deshundra Jefferson has ordered staff to study the feasibility of a program to help county employees afford homes in Prince William so they can live closer to work.
Jefferson said the move is primarily aimed at law enforcement, teachers and fire responders, all county service workers who are often not high earners. Many employees in those groups commute from out of the county, coming from Stafford or Spotsylvania counties, where they can afford to own a home, officials said.
“That’s kind of what I would like to see is people who are on the front lines, serving and protecting communities so that they can really be a part of the community,” Jefferson said, noting the example of a police officer she recently spoke with who commutes north from Spotsylvania County because they can’t afford to buy in Prince William.
Jefferson said county staff members are expected to bring a recommendation before the board on a potential program in the coming months.
She’s hoping to model it off a program offered to employees in Loudoun County, which gives a $10,000 loan grant for the purchase of a home within the county. Those loans are forgivable at 20% of the loan amount annually over a five-year period if the employee doesn’t leave county employment or the home.
The move is intended to help alleviate staffing shortages in the critical fields like first responders and educators, which have been suffering from a lack of workers for the past few years.
Prince William County Police Chief Peter Newsham said he supports Jefferson’s initiative. He said “time will tell” whether the plan will help alleviate staffing shortages, but the department has had an easier time recruiting in recent months after the board approved a collective bargaining agreement that raised pay for police.
But Newsham said housing affordability remains a major obstacle for the Prince William police force.
“I’m a firm believer that police officers should live in the community that they work in, and I also understand that a lot of our officers do not live in Prince William County because of the cost,” Newsham said. “If you talk to them, they would prefer not to commute. A lot of them would prefer to live in the county, and they don’t do it because they can’t afford it.”
Newsham continued, “The value that I see for our officers living in the community that they serve is they become part of the community. They get to know people. People are more likely to tell them things that they don’t know as a neighbor as opposed to just a police officer.”
Representatives with the Prince William Education Association, the local teachers’ union, did not return a request for comment.
“Although we don’t have specific information on this directive, PWCS supports efforts to attract and retain quality employees,” school system spokesperson Meghan Silas said in a statement.
Another county department that has faced staffing shortages is the planning office, but officials indicated Jefferson’s directive would bear little impact on the department.
“There is no data that shows that the planning staffing challenges were related to housing opportunities for employees,” county spokesperson Nikki Brown said in an email.
