Affordable Housing Gets $5 Million Boost From Fairfax County's Mid-Year Budget Review

FAIRFAX, VA — Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved an additional $5 million investment in its affordable housing initiative Tuesday as part of its Fiscal Year 2022 Mid-Year Review package.

Last year, the board added the mid-year review as part of its normal quarterly budget review process to provide a supplemental step so that it could right-size the budget as it responded to changes occurring due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

County Executive Bryan Hill presented the mid-year-review package to the board at its Dec. 7, 2021 meeting, reflecting a net increase of $17,775,104 or 0.4 percent over the the FY 2022 Revised Budget Plan estimate.

The increase is the result of $20.2 million more in revenue being received from other local taxes than was originally projected. Likewise, there was a $8.8 million increase in Personal Property Taxes, which was partially off-set by a net decrease of $6.6 million in Charges for Services and a $1.7 million decrease in Permits, Fees, and Regulatory Licenses. Other decreases included $1.8 million in Fines and Forfeitures and $1.1 million in other revenue categories.

The mid-year review package the supervisors approved on Tuesday, contained the following adjustments that board members added in December:

• $5 million to identify new funding for pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure
• $5 million increase to support projected construction cost escalation
• $1.64 million to fully fund the Accrued Liability Reserve
• $0.94 million for the Hypothermia Program to address impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
• $0.38 million to support opening of Unit A of the Morrisette Warehouse in West Springfield
• $0.30 million to support implementation of the new Prevailing Wage Ordinance and the Project Labor Agreement pilot project
• $0.25 million for visioning and masterplanning efforts at Lake Anne in Reston

Once these adjustments were made to the package, the General Fund had a balance of $6,534,174.

Chairman Jeff McKay and Supervisors John Foust and Dahlia Palchik, who represent the Dranesville and Providence districts, respectively, submitted the proposal to authorize a one-time appropriation of $5 million toward affordable housing, as well as a one-time appropriation of $1,534,174 for the pandemic relief fund. With the additional of the last item, the pandemic reserve would be $22.53 million.

Related: Affordable Housing Project In Tysons Receives $33M In Financing

"I want to encourage my colleagues, of course, to support the one-time additional money for affordable housing, as we know that's a priority of the board," McKay said, as he made the proposal. "The money that's in this package for new bike and ped infrastructure, the hypothermia program, so many important things that are in here."

After the motion was opened up for discussion, the only board member to speak was Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity, who said couldn't support funding recurring costs with one-time funds, even if they are federal funds.

"We're setting ourselves up for a bad future," he said. "These items should be included in our budget process and weighed against other priority items with the chance for residents to weigh in. Some of those priorities include the desperate need to address employee compensation, retention and recruitment."

After the motion was put up for a vote, it passed 8-1, with Herrity voting "nay."