March 26, 2025

Thank you to all of you who have reached out to my office and me to wish me a speedy recovery from my recent medical procedure. I’m pleased to report that I returned home from the hospital last weekend, and recovery is going well. At a post-operation appointment this afternoon, doctors confirmed that my recovery is proceeding as expected. While I am disappointed to be sidelined from my official duties as I recover, I am making great progress and I’m grateful for your support. 



My annual Springfield District Budget Town Hall that was scheduled for yesterday evening (March 25th) is postponed until a later date to be determined due to my recent medical procedure. I am beginning to catch up on your emails and hope to have more on the budget very soon. In the meantime, I welcome any feedback you have on how the tax rate affects you as well as changes you would like to see to the County budget.

At the last meeting, the Board voted to advertise the FY 2026 tax rate at $1.14 per $100 of assessed value, which is an increase of one penny and a half from the FY 2025 tax rate. Advertising this rate means that the Board cannot adopt a higher tax rate than $1.14 per $100 of assessed value when it adopts the budget on May 13th, but it can adopt a lower rate. If this tax rate is adopted, it will increase the average tax bill by $638.39. This is an unacceptable increase in taxes when I have repeatedly asked the Board to reduce spending by doing a strategic, deep dive on the budget.

To make matters worse, the Board also voted to advertise an up to 4% tax on prepared food, which would go into effect on January 1, 2026, if approved. I am strongly opposed to implementing new taxes on our residents, especially a single-industry meals tax, when the Board has not brought forward meaningful solutions to reduce spending (see my newsletter from 2024 on the meals tax). The proposed FY 2026 budget includes a second year in cuts to public safety services like ambulances and crossing guards, while continuing to fund capital projects. I am strongly opposed to cutting these services that save lives, when other noncritical service reductions could be considered. I plan to share more of my thoughts on the meals tax, potential public safety reductions, and other thoughts on the budget soon.

In the meantime, I encourage you to mark your calendar and sign up here to share feedback on the budget at the Budget Public Hearings April 22nd-24th. In addition, you can also sign up to testify at the public hearing for the meals tax on April 22nd at 3pm. You can provide testimony in person, via phone, even pre-recorded video (video submission is due by 9 a.m. on Monday, April 21st). You can also email budget testimony to the entire Board by sending it to ClerktotheBOS@fairfaxcounty.gov. 

I am happy to share that this year’s Fairfax County Teen Job Fairs were a big success with over 1000 students and 74 businesses participating. The fairs at West Springfield High School and Chantilly High School included new offerings this year that were a hit with students, including a headshot station and mock interview station provided by our partners at Neighborhood and Community Services. In addition, I was grateful to our partners who hosted workshops for students to learn how to write a resume, receive tips on interviewing, and even how to set up a LinkedIn profile.

Students at the fairs had the opportunity to engage with multiple Fairfax County Government agencies, the Loudoun County Department of Parks, the Loudoun County Sheriff's office, as well as all branches of the U.S. military. In addition to public service opportunities, students were excited to meet with many small businesses, such as Chantilly Kumon Math and Reading Center, FASTSIGNS of Springfield, Eastern TV Broadcasting, and STEMSkills among others. I was happy to welcome back some of our longtime business partners including Bach to Rock, Civil Air Patrol, Sunrise Day Camp, and swimming academies such as Edsall Park Swim Club, High Sierra pools, and American Pool among many others. You can find the full list of participating businesses here.  

A big thank you to all of my cosponsors for another year of successful, free fairs for students and local businesses!

Fairfax County Public Schools

Fairfax County Times Newspapers

School Board Member Sandy Anderson, Springfield District

Neighborhood and Community Services

DFS Public Assistance and Employment Services Division

South Fairfax Chamber of Commerce

Central Fairfax Chamber of Commerce

Mt. Vernon Springfield Chamber of Commerce

• Mark Your Calendar for the Free Concerts in the Park Series
• Trail Closures for Sewer Rehabilitation Pohick Phase I Project
• 2025 SSPA Community Meetings Begin (March 24 – April 21)
• Fairview Fire Station Pardon-Our-Dust Virtual Meeting TONIGHT (March 26)
• Free Paper Shredding Event (March 29)
• ECHO Spring Yard Sale (April 26)

Mark Your Calendar for the Free Concerts in the Park Series

I am excited to announce that the summer concert series will be taking place again this summer from June 25^th through August 20^th. These concerts are free to attend and do not require any registration or sign up. As in years past, we look forward to having 2 Silos beer, food trucks, and Peterson’s Ice Cream. Stay tuned for updates.

June 25th

The Road Ducks

July 2nd

The Randy Thompson Band

July 9th

Gotcha Covered Band

July 16th

The Magic Trio

July 23rd

TBD

July 30th

The Skip Castro Band

August 6th

The English Channel

August 13th

TBD

August 20th

Riptide

Trail Closures for Sewer Rehabilitation Pohick Phase I Project

The initial 3-month closure of the cross-county trail for the extent of the project area started on March 17, 2025. This closure is for a short section of the trail at the north end of the project west of Lake Pleasant Drive. Once the work at this northern end of the project area is complete, the Cross-county trail will be reopened utilizing a detour along Pohick Road. This detour will be in effect for a 12–15-month duration while the remaining rehabilitation is completed on this segment of the project. Trail closure and projects signs have been posted in the Pohick Stream Valley Park;see the map below for reference. For alternate park locations and trails to explore during this temporary closure, residents are encouraged to use the Park Authority’s Park Amenity Locator and Trail Buddy tools.

As part of this work, the sanitary sewer flow will need to be by-passed for the rehabilitation to take place under dry pipe conditions. A series of by-pass pumps, and piping will be installed above ground reroute the sewer flow to a discharge manhole located in the vicinity of Wadebrook Terrace. See the photos below for an example of this setup.

2025 SSPA Community Meetings (March 24 – April 21)

The 2025 Countywide Site-Specific Plan Amendment (SSPA) community screening meetings begin March 24th. This screening process will include 14 virtual and in-person meetings across the county from March 24th to April 21st. It's a great opportunity for community members to engage in the screening process, ask questions, and provide feedback on the SSPA nominations. For more information and community meetings dates, visit here.

Fairview Fire Station Pardon-Our-Dust Virtual Meeting TONIGHT (March 26)

There will be a virtual “Pardon Our Dust” community meeting on March 26^th at 7pm for the Fairview Fire Station 32 project. At this meeting, County staff will provide an update on the project and receive feedback from the community prior to project construction.

Please email any questions to: Maryam.Mostamandi@fairfaxcounty.gov 

For more information, call 703-324-5800, TTY 711 or go to FairfaxCounty.gov search: “Fairview Fire Station” or visit: www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/capital-projects/fairview-fire-station

Free Paper Shredding Event (March 29)

The Move with Marion Real Estate Team is partnering with Universal Title and Christ Church to host a free paper shredding event and food drive on Saturday March 29th from 9am – 11:30 am.  

ECHO’s Spring Yard Sale (April 26)



The ECHO Yard Sale offers a gymnasium full of items on dozens of tables organized by category. Doors open at 8:00 am on Saturday, April 26, at St. Bernadette’s School Gym, 7600 Old Keene Mill Road, Springfield. From home decorations to electronics to jewelry to kitchenware, we have loads of nice things to choose from at wonderful prices. Proceeds support ECHO, Ecumenical Community Helping Others.

ECHO could use some helping hands to set up, take down, assist cashiers during the sale and more. Set up is from 9:00 am to noon on Friday, April 25, and take down begins at noon on April 26. If you have a few hours to contribute to their good cause, please call ECHO at the “I can give help” number, 703-569-7972. Please note that, if you are looking for assistance from ECHO, always use the “In need of help” number, 703-569-9160.