Fairfax County 'Fares Better' With Budget Than Other Localities

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County released a proposed operating budget of $4.48 billion for fiscal year 2022 on Tuesday, a budget plan that will result in the average annual real estate tax bill for county homeowners increasing by about $224, County Executive Bryan Hill said in his budget presentation to the county's Board of Supervisors.

The county executive's proposed budget represents an increase of $67,086,736, or 1.5 percent, over the FY 2021 revised budget plan.

The proposed budget calls for a one-cent reduction to the county's real estate tax rate. But given a significant increase in home assessments in the county over the past year, the typical residential annual tax bill will increase on average by $224.15 in FY 2022 at the proposed real estate tax rate of $1.14 per $100 of assessed value.

The Fairfax County budget proposal includes no funding for Fairfax County employee pay increases in FY 2022, although the plan does not call for a freeze in hiring or reductions in staff. While funding for most county agencies remains flat in the fiscal 2022 budget, it does include a funding increase of $14.13 million for the county's public school system.

"Despite the tremendous impact that the pandemic has had in our county, we have fared better than most other jurisdictions across the country," Hill said in his county executive message to the Board of Supervisors. "This is due in part to the solid economic foundation that has been developed and strengthened over many decades."

Along with greater funding for schools, the county is proposing a budget increase for policing and security to support for new facilities, such as the South County Police Station and the Scotts Run Fire Station and funding to address workload issues, such as those in the Fairfax County Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney.

An increase of $4.44 million is included in the budget to support the implementation of the county's police body-worn camera program.

An increase of $2.23 million and 15 new full-time positions in the Office of the Commonwealth’s
Attorney is included to support the county police department's body-worn camera program, as well as handling all sex crimes and a majority of violent crimes.

At a September Public Safety Committee Meeting, Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano requested additional positions to cover workload that was backlogged or no longer covered due to a lack of resources. As a result, prosecution of violent crimes, sex crimes, property crimes and other misdemeanors was reduced as a response.

"These new positions will allow the office to continue prosecution of all sex crimes and a majority of violent crimes and support the full implementation of the Body-Worn Camera Program," the proposed FY 2022 budget reads.

At the same time as the release of the FY 2022 budget, the county released an updated proposed Strategic Plan, which was originally developed and presented to the Board of Supervisors in February 2020.

"However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, consideration of the plan by the Board and the public was postponed," the proposed budget reads. "Based on the significant cultural and societal changes that have occurred over the past year, including the impacts of the pandemic, as well as the renewed focus on equity and racial justice, staff has spent the past months making updates to the plan."

As part of these updates, county staff has worked closely with the County’s Chief Equity Officer to ensure alignment with the One Fairfax initiative and have followed the recommendations from the Chairman’s Task Force on Equity and Opportunity.

During the meeting, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeffrey McKay said the budget outlook for the county would have been more troubling without federal support from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act. McKay said he hopes there will be additional funding for localities from the federal government in 2021.

Individual supervisors will hold town halls on the budget over the next month. The Board of Supervisors will be holding public hearings April 13-15, followed by a mark-up of the budget on April 27. On May 4, the Board of Supervisors is scheduled to adopt the fiscal year 2022 budget.