Prince George County board holds budget work session, leaves tax rate at 82¢; adoption set for May 27

The Prince George County Board of Supervisors on May 21 completed a budget work session during which staff and board members agreed to a package of reductions to the proposed FY2026 county budget and kept the advertised real estate tax rate at 82 cents per $100 of assessed value, with final adoption scheduled for the board iscussion and vote on May 27.

County budget staff presented updated revenue and expenditure estimates and a spreadsheet of proposed reductions, and supervisors discussed staffing, school transfers and fire/EMS recruitment and retention. The presentation showed a net general-fund reduction of roughly $736,000 from the introduced FY2026 budget and left the advertised tax rate unchanged at 82 cents; staff will prepare the final adoptable budget based on the board—onsensus for next Tuesday nd a public hearing on the tax rate is scheduled then.

The budget presentation by Mrs. Jury, county budget staff, summarized revenue changes since the budget was introduced March 11: an estimated $673,202 reduction in general-fund revenues driven by lower local tax revenue estimates, including about $585,000 lower real-estate tax revenue than initially projected, a $350,000 reduction in public service tax revenue, and offsetting increases including a $140,000 gain in machinery and tools tax and roughly $110,000 of net changes from state comp-board funding tied to additional state-funded positions. Mrs. Jury told the board the advertised budget keeps the real-estate tax rate at 82 cents and that lowering the rate by one penny would reduce revenue by about…