County of Fairfax, Virginia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 18, 2025

OFFICE OF SUPERVISOR PAT HERRITY

Contact: Dave Foreman

Dave.foreman@farifaxcounty.gov

703-451-8873

703-963-1715

Supervisor Herrity's Statement on the Fairfax County FY 26 Advertised Budget

Fairfax, VA - Today the County Executive released the Fiscal Year 2026 Advertised Budget for Fairfax County. The advertised budget includes a 7.6 percent increase in real estate tax paid by the average homeowner, including the average increase in assessments. This is an increase of approximately $638 in the tax bill for the average homeowner. The FY 2026 budget brings the tax rate from $1.125 to $1.14 per $100 of assessed value due to increased spending and a decline in the commercial tax base. It also includes a 2% increase in the hotel tax.

Although the County Executive’s advertised budget does not include a prepared food tax, this Board has made it clear that it plans to implement a 3 or 4 percent meals tax. The advertised budget does include $60M in spending reductions – unfortunately almost half of those cuts are to public safety.  

Supervisor Herrity commented as follows:

“We have a lot of work to do and blaming our increased spending on the state and federal government does not cut it.”

Herrity added, "Unfortunately, this budget is no surprise coming from a Board that has refused to do a deep dive on the budget as prior Boards have done, or to even keep track of the spending commitments it makes during the year. It is disingenuous for the Board to say that we can reduce some of the tax increase by adopting a meals tax when the Board hasn’t done the hard work of addressing spending."

** Supervisor Herrity will host his annual Budget Town Hall on Tuesday, March 25 at 7:00 PM on Channel 16 and Facebook Live. Questions can be submitted via email at SpringfieldBOS@fairfaxcounty.gov or on Facebook @Supervisor Herrity.

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