Whether you are a resident or a County employee, I strongly encourage you to participate in the budget public hearings on April 13-15^th where you will have the opportunity to share input on the FY 2022 budget. I shared some initial thoughts with you in my last newsletter on the unsustainable 45 percent increase in taxes over the last decade, the 4.3 percent increase on the average homeowner with this budget, and the lack of spending constraint on the Board even during a pandemic. During the public hearings, you will have the opportunity to share how you are personally impacted or where County spending is not aligning with what you see as important in our community. 

Testifying is as simple as sharing your experience with the Board and how the tax rate will affect you personally. You do not need to use the full three minutes of your testimony time. Often, the personal testimonies are the most impactful for Board members because you are who we represent. You can sign up here to testify via phone or recorded video for up to three minutes. You can also submit testimony in writing to clerktothebos@fairfaxcounty.gov. I sincerely hope to hear from you. 

During our latest committee meetings, the Board again discussed big ticket spending items with no discussion of prioritizing needs or cutting costs for taxpayers. The Board has continued to discuss new spending, even while market rate adjustments for County employees were not included in the budget this year. These adjustments were also unfunded last year due to the pandemic impacts.

At Tuesday’s meeting, I requested that we make cuts to the FY 2022 budget to give the average taxpayer a flat tax bill while also prioritizing funding for the market rate adjustments for County employees. Our greatest resource for providing residents quality services is our workforce and they should be a priority in the budget. It should be well within this Board’s ability to cut spending in the FY 2022 budget by less than 2 percent and still fund what is essential to our operations. We just need to prioritize and make hard choices like families have been doing since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Countywide Strategic Plan Will Preview Future Spending

At the end of February, the County Executive presented the Countywide Strategic Plan for a final round of community feedback before Board adoption of the final plan next May. You can find the full plan as it stands here. Since the priorities adopted in the Strategic Plan will guide future County policies and spending, your feedback is very important.

You can take the Countywide Strategic Plan survey here and sign up to receive updates on the plan progress here. You can also share your general feedback by emailing strategicplan@fairfaxcounty.gov.

The Strategic Plan as it stands includes nine priority areas and incorporates feedback from 1,674 meeting participants and 17,355 survey respondents. When the Board discussed the plan last year, I shared a couple key concerns.

First, there does not seem to be enough community input yet for a document that is intended to guide all future policies and spending. Most residents I have talked to have not heard of the strategic plan or the community engagement process. With a County of 1.2 million people, I hope we will only adopt a plan that has received feedback from a more significant percent of our population.

My second concern with this plan is that there are too many “priorities.” A strategic plan should be focused, but nine priorities areas are too many to truly be priorities. If we prioritize everything, nothing is prioritized. My hope is that we will narrow in on the most essential services and needs of our residents.

Finally, I hope to see greater involvement from and emphasis on the needs of older adults in the strategic plan. Older adults have been the most impacted demographic during the pandemic, the most impacted by rising taxes, and represent one of the largest age demographics in Fairfax County.

I will continue updating you on the plan’s development. In the meantime, I hope you will take some time to share what is important to you with the links above. 

Other News & Information...

Thank you to those of you that joined us for our Agritourism and Budget Town Halls. If you would like to access the recordings, click here for Agritourism Town Hall and here for the Budget Town Hall.

Fairfax County Public Libraries are now open for express services across the system. To learn more about available amenities, please see this page.

Learn about the work of the Fairfax Medical Corps and what they are doing behind the scenes to vaccinate individuals.

Low-Cost Rabies Clinics are back! To register, please visit this page.

Experienced in working with school-aged youth who have disabilities? Interested in working at a therapeutic rec summer camp? Join NCS’s Therapeutic Rec team at an upcoming Open Hire & Information Session to learn about hiring for NCS' 6-week summer camp.

Join us on April 26 at 7PM for a discussion for the Braddock Park Master Plan Revision.

For more information, please see this page.

The Fairfax County Environmental Quality Advisory Council (EQAC) is pleased to announce the opening of the application period for its student member term running from July 2021 through June 2022. EQAC is comprised of one citizen representative from each of nine magisterial districts, four at‑large members, and one student representative. Each member is appointed by the Board of Supervisors to serve a three-year term, except the student member, who serves during her or his junior or senior year of high school.

If you are currently a sophomore or junior in good standing and would be interested in serving in this capacity during your junior or senior year, please download and complete the application linked below. All applications must be received via email to eqac@fairfaxcounty.gov by 11:59 PM on Friday, May 14, 2021.

Starting in May, Mission BBQ will be honoring a different branch of the military and serving all active duty service members and veterans a free sandwich.

Monday, 5/10 - Army

Tuesday, 5/11 - Marine Corps

Wednesday, 5/12 - Navy

Thursday, 5/13 - Air Force and Space Force

Friday, 5/14 - Coast Guard

On Saturday, May 15, Mission BBQ will be celebrating Armed Forces Day with "Lunch with the Heroes." From 11:00am-2:00pm, Mission BBQ will be offering all service members and veterans a free sandwich with our thanks. At noon, Mission BBQ will have a live version of the National Anthem, and recognize all members of the Armed Forces in attendance.  

Eight year old Golden retriever-mix Ellie is looking for an experienced owner to be the only dog in the home. This loyal dog will bark at strangers and would do well as the only dog without young children in the home. Ellie suffered an injury when young and is a tri-pod, but gets around just fine and enjoys playing fetch and tugging toys. Ellie needs a home with no kids under high school age, and no other dogs. She has never been around cats. If you'd like to adopt Ellie, please click here to view her profile.