Another year has come to a close. A difficult year, and one marked by the deepest national recession since the Second World War. One marked by many losing their jobs. And one marked by anxiety.
Prince William was particularly hard hit. As the housing bubble burst, foreclosures reached 7000. Government revenues fell.
Adversity is unavoidable, but when it comes, a successful community does what is difficult and lays the foundation for the future. As others hoped for the best, we prepared for the worst. We made our cuts. We took our hits. We did not delay the pain. And in doing so, a fertile ground has been laid and the seeds have been sewn for a decade of prosperity. This will be Prince William’s decade.
Lincoln said: All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind. And that, my fellow citizens, is what we have done.
We have used adversity to pursue, and accomplish, long-term and long-overdue reforms.
RESTORING THE LIMITED ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
We reduced the size of our government, focused it on its core responsibilities and restored it to its proper limited scope and its limited role in our lives. In the current budget year we have already sliced $11.9 million. Last year alone, the County shaved $42 million from its general fund. Over the course of the past three years, we have reduced spending by a whopping $101 million.
RESTORING ITS FOCUS
As we reduced, we focused more resources on core functions. We have reduced the number of general county employees per capita by a third since 1992 while have continued to add more police and fire and rescue personnel.
USING STRUGGLE AS CATALYST FOR REFORM
But we did not just cut, we reformed, we improved, we innovated. We assured that what government does do, it does well.
1. INTERNAL AUDIT. A good government is one which is first open and honest. We are the stewards of your tax dollars. And so, this Board created an internal audit function in 2008 and an independent internal audit department in 2009. And then we set it loose. Our auditors went to work and exposed waste and fraud, some going back almost two decades. Our auditors recommended reforms, and this Board adopted them.
2. OFFICE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY. At the direction of this Board, internal audit investigated certain activities in the Office of Information Technology. Light was shown on fraud--and on the mismanagement that allowed it to occur. But this was also an opportunity, and this Board is seizing it to replace management and reconstitute OIT as a cutting edge, dynamic organization. We have already found $7 million in savings in our IT systems.
3. CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES. We grieved this year at the loss of a child named Alexis Glover. We took an honest look at our CPS system and did not hide its shortcomings. Despite our flat budget, we invested significantly in long-overdue improvements to our CPS system. No system, no matter how well funded or constituted, can prevent the death of every child at the hands of an abusive parent. But the County’s new and reformed CPS system is now among the finest.
4. FIRE & RESCUE. At the direction of this Board, the Department of Fire & Rescue and the County’s volunteer fire companies examined our fire and rescue system, which had remained essentially unchanged for 40 years. Those discussions were intense and difficult. But the result is improved safety for personnel, a consolidated procurement system to assure that your tax dollars are spent as efficiently as possible, and a reconstituted Fire & Rescue Association that is more nimble and better able to adapt to change.
5. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. We have made great strides in economic development. At the direction of this Board, the County streamlined our inspection and permitting processes for new and expanding businesses. We have improved the ease of doing business in Prince William and Development Services is now a model which other jurisdictions seek to replicate. Reduction in the size of government will also mean that average commercial tax bills will be reduced by at least 15 percent this year. At Innovation, the Virginia Department of Forensics opened a state-of-the-art laboratory and George Mason will soon open its Biomedical Research Lab and Georgetown University announced that it is teaming with George Mason to start an advanced medical studies program. Innovation is blooming. But there is much more to do, and at the direction of this Board, an all-star economic development task force will report to the Board with specific recommendations in June.
BETTER GOVERNMENT AT LESS COST
As we have reduced, refocused and reformed government, a better government has emerged. Average tax bills in Prince William are 34% lower than Fairfax and 30% lower than Loudoun. The average tax bill in Prince William County in 2010 is now, incredibly, less than it was in 2006. The percentage of citizens satisfied with the value received for their tax dollar has risen to over 80 percent, and those who believe the County provides effective and efficient services has risen to 90 percent. Despite the recession, the perceived quality of life in this county is now at a 4-year high.
CHALLENGES AHEAD
On July 21, 1861, this nation fought its first battle of the civil war here in Prince William. Prince William remained the front line of the war into 1862 with the second, and bloodier, battle of Manassas. After the war, our County lay in ruins. But veterans of that great war came afterward, not just to commemorate the battle, but to begin the reconstruction of our nation.
Our County has always drawn the attention of the nation. President Obama began and ended his campaign for President in Prince William. And next year, when the nation again focuses its attention on Prince William as we remember the 150th anniversary of that great war, we can look proudly on our County as we have faced adversity and prepared for the future.
We have the opportunity to remind Americans that throughout our history our strength has been our ability, through ingenuity, and unfettered by government, to transform adversity into progress.
We shall pluck a thistle and plant a flower.
