Board of County Supervisors Meeting - Apr 21, 2026

meeting

Prince William County Board of Supervisors 3h 55m 1 speaker 7 agenda items transcribed 2 months ago official recording ↗

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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

How does the Board open public comment and explain rules for speakers?

Deshundra Jefferson 0:10

Please, when the gavel goes down, we will be quiet. Everyone is required to find a seat. Everyone, if you cannot find a seat here, we have seating in the atrium.

Deshundra Jefferson 0:34

If you cannot find a seat in here, we have a couple seats over here. We have, if you were sitting next to an empty seat.

Deshundra Jefferson 0:51

Sir, there's an empty seat right there, right on the end. And there's one over on that side.

Deshundra Jefferson 1:08

Again, we have overflow seating outside. It is now 702. On Tuesday, April 21 2026. This meeting is now in session, we are going to begin with a moment of silence.

Deshundra Jefferson 1:37

All rise if you are able for the Pledge of Allegiance.

1:44

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice.

Deshundra Jefferson 2:01

All right, we're going to go on to agenda item number three, and that's public comment time. I see a lot of new faces, so I'm going to explain things to you. First of all, we maintain decorum in the board. We will have no signs, no banners, no nothing. When someone speaks, if you agree with them, you can do your jazz hands. There is no clapping. There are no outbursts. I'm going to call people up in groups of five. WHEN YOU ARE CALLED UP, YOU MAY STAND IN THE BACK AND THAT'S THE ONLY TIME PEOPLE ARE ALLOWED TO STAND. PLEASE START BY STATING YOUR NAME AND THE MAGISTERIAL DISTRICT WHERE YOU RESIDE. AGAIN, STATE YOUR NAME AND THE MAGISTERIAL DISTRICT WHERE YOU RESIDE. EVERYONE WILL HAVE THREE MINUTES. THERE IS A TIMER UP THERE.

Deshundra Jefferson 2:46

YOU CAN WATCH YOUR TIME. WE DO NOT DO BACK AND FORTH. YOU CAN SING. YOU CAN DANCE. YOU HAVE THREE MINUTES. YOU HAVE THREE MINUTES. If you sing off key, don't blame me. Again, name and the magisterial district where you reside. Do not give us your address unless you want us to show up. I can show up. I may go through your refrigerator. But just your name and where, first and last name and where you generally reside. We start with people who are county residents before we go on to non-residents. So the first person we have is former supervisor Marty Noe. Deja Redding. BEN BALDWIN, LORI WILLIAMS, AND DONNA BALTON.

Steve Liga 3:39

GOOD EVENING, CHAIR JEFFERSON, MEMBERS OF THE BOARD.

Deshundra Jefferson 3:41

MY NAME IS MARTY NOE. I LIVE AT 14760 COGAN DRIVE. MR. NOE, PLEASE ADJUST THE MIC. AND YOU KNOW BETTER TO GIVE YOUR ADDRESS. BUT OKAY. YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE OUR EXEMPLAR IN OUR BOTTLE. I SPENT 15 YEARS GIVING MY ADDRESS. SORRY. SO GOOD EVENING. Good evening, Chair Jefferson and members of the board. My name is Marty Noe and I live in the Coles Magisterial District. Many of you know that for most of the 16 years that I served on this board, I was the individual tasked with cobbling together a budget compromise that the majority of the board could agree to.

Blake Hara 4:10

It's not an easy job that you have. Every board member comes to this process with their own list of priorities. Board members always want to raise or lower some tax rate or another, often in order to ensure funding to a program that they feel is important.

Deshundra Jefferson 4:22

When we do this, there's often a lot of talk about the revenue sharing agreement. And a mistake that supervisors often make is the belief that the revenue sharing agreement is a number, a percentage.

Blake Hara 4:33

That's simply not the case. The revenue sharing agreement was never intended to be simply a particular percentage split.

Deshundra Jefferson 4:40

It is supposed to be an agreement that the two boards will work together in order to determine what are the most important priorities for our community and establish fiscal and budgetary policies based on that shared dialogue. The Board of Supervisors and the School Board are not equal partners in this agreement. A fundamental flaw in Virginia's system of local government is that the elected school board members have to operate entirely based on the decision-making authority of the Board of County Supervisors. So in order for them to do their job well, in order to pay teachers what they deserve to be paid, to build the facilities that are needed for our students, to maintain the standards of excellence that parents expect for their children, they rely on honest and trustworthy cooperation from this board.