Prince George County staff outline FY2026 budget choices after reassessment raises tax base

Prince George County budget staff told the Board of Supervisors on Feb. 26 that a third-party real estate reassessment has raised the county's taxable base and given the board a range of choices for the FY2026 budget, including whether to equalize the tax rate or leave more revenue available for schools and county services.

The reassessment, conducted with a third-party contractor Vision and the assessor's office, raised the land book from about $4.06 billion to $4.58 billion, an increase of roughly $522 million, Betsy Drury, the county's budget presenter, told the board. "The value of a penny has increased from $372,000 today to $420,000, an increase of $48,000 per 1 cent," Drury said as she walked supervisors through revenue options.

Why it matters: the board must set a real estate tax rate to fund schools and county operations. Drury said the county's current real property tax rate is 82 cents per $100 of assessed value. Using the new assessed values, a nine-cent equalization would lower the rate to an estimated 73 cents; keeping the rate at 82 cents would increase projected real estate tax revenue by about $4.2 million (from a budgeted $30,750,000 to about $34,950,000).

School funding options and MOU: Drury reviewed the county's revenue-sharing memorandum of understanding (MOU), in…