Prince William supervisors raise data-center levy, cut vehicle and meals taxes in budget markup

Prince William County supervisors voted Wednesday to increase the county's computer and peripheral tax to $4.15 per $100 of assessed value, cut the personal-vehicle tax to $3.50 and direct staff to prepare an ordinance cutting the meals (food and beverage) tax to 3 percent, while adopting a $0.906 real-estate tax rate for fiscal 2026.

The actions came near the end of a lengthy budget markup session during which supervisors debated staff requests, department priorities and how much of newly available revenue from data-center firms to apply toward tax relief. County Executive Christopher Shorter had presented a recap budget that preserved many department requests; the board's changes reallocated a portion of the projected C&P revenue to lower household vehicle bills and reduce the meal tax in a phased way.

The board's move on the C&P rate was the most consequential revenue decision: the higher C&P rate is projected to raise roughly $18 million in additional revenue compared with the budget's earlier baseline. Supervisors said part of that incremental money should be returned to taxpayers, chiefly through a lower personal-property levy on…