ACTION ALERT:
Can you spend 5 minutes and send an e-mail to help “green up” Prince William County? Got a friend who will do the same?
We can put the computers in the data centers to work, and put their extra tax revenue into parks and trails. County supervisors have been clear: to get funding allocated, they need to hear from the community now that trails are a priority.
The Prince William County Executive just released his proposed FY27 budget. The draft Capital Improvement Program (CIP) includes increasing the annual funding for park facilities to $5 million, but the increase for trails funding (also $5 million) lasts only for FY27.
Steady, reliable funding every year is necessary for county staff to build the 300 miles of bike routes and walking trails that are already planned in the Mobility Chapter of the 2040 Comprehensive Plan, and getting refined in a Trails Master Plan that will be released soon. It may take 20 years to complete the network of trails, and one-time funding (while welcome…) won’t do the job.
A sample message is below. Feel free to add your own words.
You can also sign up to comment on FY27 during a public hearing on March 17 or April 7.
SAMPLE EMAIL
To: bocs@pwcgov.org
Subject: budget increase to build the trails network over many years
Funding trails construction at $5 million in the FY27 budget is a great start – but just a start. Please revise the draft FY27-32 Capital Improvements Program (CIP) so it will fund construction of trails at $5 million per year, every year.
Without steady funding, the almost-finished planning effort to refine the 2040 Mobility Chapter and create a Trails Master Plan will have been a waste of time. Without steady funding to build out the trails network, Prince William County will not make the vision of live-work-play walkable communities become real. Without steady funding, Prince William County will not reach the Level of Service objective for access to county parks.
The FY27 funding is appreciated. Please build on that beginning, so the county implements its mobility planning and eventually connects places with different types of trails.
Sincerely,
[name]
[address or magisterial district]