by The Sheriff of Nottingham
in Prince William County

The BOCS and Dom Peacor literally have bruises on their chests from the chest-thumping congratulatory accolades they heap on themselves for the deep spending cuts they made to County spending during the Great Recession.

Chairman Stewart brags loudly that “under Corey’s leadership, the Board has trimmed county spending by more than $143 million resulting in average tax bills being reduced to the lowest level in five years.”

Supervisor Marty “Maytag” Nohe claims on his website that the BOCS “kept property taxes the lowest in the Northern Virginia by cutting millions in spending from the County Budget.”

Supervisor Mike May nudges his supporters with the claim he worked at “keeping taxes low and the County budget under control.”

Supervisor Wally Covington stated early in his career that “the public expects their local officials to be willing to relieve some of their tax burden.”

Former Supervisor John Stirrup crowed that he “stood up to my own party and voted against this year’s county budget because it raised taxes. . . . I worked to cut $143 million, or 16%, from the county budget.”

The Sheriff cannot take this blathering about cutting spending any longer.  If you believe the press releases of these knaves you would believe they actually cut spending by $143 million from the Prince William County budget.

Of course you would believe it.  They said it didn’t they?

But here’s the catch.

It is a big lie.

That’s right.  It is not true.  Not a single word of it.

What the BOCS did do was to cut proposed spending on future budgets by $143 million.  

That is not cutting actual spending in the current budget.

It is classic misdirection at the taxpayer’s expense.  We should be able trust what these people say.  They are elected officials who owe a duty of honesty to us.

[Okay, The Sheriff got a bit carried away with that statement.]

But they stretch, bend, twist, and torture the truth to the point it is completely unrecognizable.

The bottom line:  The BOCS DID NOT CUT ACTUAL SPENDING BY $143 MILLION!

But Dom Peacor inadvertently let the proverbial ‘cat out of the bag’ during the Budget Presentation last Tuesday.

Here is a slide from Dom Peacor’s mind-numbing budget powerpoint presentation:

Check out Bullet #5 on this slide.

The BOCS cut “. . . $143M in planned spending from Five Year Plan.”

Reducing any amount of “planned spending” does not equate to a spending cut.

When John Gray ran for the Chairmanship of the BOCS he was roundly castigated for claiming it was not a real spending cut, only a theoretical cut in future and planned spending.

Now Dom Peacor admits Gray was absolutely right — there was no real cut in County spending at all — it was only a reduction in “PLANNED SPENDING FROM FIVE YEAR PLAN.”

So let’s do the right thing now and make real cuts in spending in the FY2014 budget.  That would be progress.

by The Sheriff of Nottingham
in Prince William County

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