County Executive's Revised Budget Cuts Virtually All New Spending
On Tuesday evening, County Executive Bryan Hill released an updated budget proposal that included many of the same reductions I recommended to the Board at the March 31st Budget committee meeting. The updated budget is a good start and includes the elimination of the proposed 3 percent tax rate increase, elimination of the proposed Admissions Tax, and cuts virtually all new spending in the original advertised budget. I believe this is the first of several difficult rounds of budget decisions the Board will need to make to relieve the burden on our community and address the revenue loss from the pandemic. In addition to these changes, the budget process has changed along with the budget timeline.
The FY 2021 Advertised Budget released in February included a proposed tax rate increase of 3 percent, which combined with property assessment increases would be an over 5 percent tax increase for the average homeowner. I was the only Supervisor to vote against the advertisement of this tax increase and was again the sole vote against advertising the up to 4 percent Admissions Tax. I'm glad to see these increases have been eliminated from the revised budget; they were not appropriate before and they are clearly not now. The Advertised Budget also included 177 new positions and a host of Board-directed new programs. I commend the County Executive for his leadership in making the hard decision to cut these programs. The Revised Budget also eliminates proposed increases in many of the fees we charge to residents.
At the March 7th Budget Committee meeting, I argued for the elimination of all non-pandemic related new spending, spending reductions and focusing resources on the pandemic response. I urged the County Executive to do the following in the revised budget:
- to cut the new positions and over $100M in new spending in the advertised budget
- to delay infrastructure projects, except road construction, where possible including the police body camera program which has a significant price tag
- to review and refocus the tens of millions of dollars in the Consolidated Community Funding Pool on support to nonprofits that are responding to the pandemic
- to refocus and increase support to our non-profits that are providing basic needs like food, utilities and rent for those impacted by the pandemic
- to not balance the FY 2021 budget using reserves - save them for if, and when truly needed
I'm glad to see most of these changes were included in the revised budget, including limiting the rollout of the police body camera program
and focusing the resources of the Consolidated Community Funding Pool on pandemic-related efforts. New spending in the budget is limited to providing 19 new positions for the Health Department in addressing COVID-19 and a reserve of $9.84M to address other potential requirements related to the pandemic.
If you want to see the County Executive's updated budget proposal, you can do so here.
This updated budget is a step in the right direction to make up for tremendous revenue loss and other pandemic impacts in Fairfax County. I believe it is the first step of many that needs to be taken to refocus government on its primary responsibilities after previous increases in spending and taxes by 25% over the last five years. However, the revised budget did not deal with anticipated reductions in state funding as well as impacts to Metro and the Connector bus system. While the cuts in the updated budget deal with the short-term impacts of the pandemic, we will also have to be prepared for how this will impact our tax base in the long term. While things look difficult, I want to remind residents that in 2009, right after I joined the Board, we successfully dealt with a $650M shortfall without significant impact on our residents or C
ounty employees. I believe we can and will get through this with the same fiscal prudence our residents and businesses are exercising every day as they deal with a changed reality.
Everyone in our community is making sacrifices to pull through this pandemic, from our first responders and healthcare workers, to our grocers and business owners, as well as all our residents. While the County Executive has issued a hiring freeze and proposed cutting salary increases for County employees, we're doing our best to care for the safety of our residents while continuing to employ those who serve them them during this difficult time. My hope is that we will find a way to recognize and reward those employees that are continuing to work on the front lines to serve our community during this pandemic, especially our first responders and Health Department workers.
For more information on the updated FY 2021 budget, Third Quarter Review, and the FY 2021-2025 Capital Improvement Program, visit here. Please note that the budget public hearings have been pushed back to April 28-30th to allow more time for residents to review the revised budget
.
Unfortunately, the decision has been made to not allow in-person testimony from residents. However, you can provide feedback online with written testimony, by phone, and through video submissions. For more information on how you can participate, you can visit here.
The Board will vote to adopt a budget on May 12th and will adopt the FY 2021-2025 Capital Improvement Program in June. You can view the full budget timeline here.
COVID-19 Updates
As of Thursday, April 9th at 10:00 am, 120 new cases reported in the Fairfax County Health District. To date, there have been 690 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases and 16 deaths in the Fairfax County Health District. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention and the Fairfax County Health Department continue to encourage residents to practice social distancing and routine hand washing.
The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention now recommends wearing a mask or cloth over your mouth when you are in public or working at an essential business. Lighter masks or bandannas will not prevent you from catching COVID-19 but will help prevent individuals who are sick and asymptomatic not spread the virus.
As the Centers for Disease Control and other organizations continue to update their modeling and the peak of COVID-19 cases in Virginia. You can find more information and an explanation here.
The County has assembled a list of resources for local businesses impacted by COVID-19. You can view it on our website here.
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