Politics & Government

Fairfax Board to Set Higher Tax Rate, Adopt Lean FY2014 Budget Tuesday

Officials call plan a "necessary compromise" that will leave some programs unfunded.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will adopt the Fiscal Year 2014 Budget plan Tuesday, setting a tax rate that will hike the average resident’s bills by more than $200.

Supervisors are expected to adopt a real estate tax rate of $1.085 per $100 of assessed value, lower than County Executive Ed Long’s proposed $1.095 rate but still a penny increase.

The Board approved the budget during a markup session last week, with the majority of supervisors calling the package a necessary compromise in a tough year.

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The budget will leave "nobody happy," officials said.

County employees will not get market rate adjustments to their salaries and supervisors are asking the School Board not to give schools employees pay raises either.

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The school board sets its own budget based on the transfer it recieves from the supervisors.

The expansion of Head Start - a pre-kindergarten program designed to prepare children from low-income families for the school system - is also left unfunded.

Head Start’s waiting list currently has more than 800 kids waiting for service but a lack of money and space has tied the Board’s hands.

In her budget remarks last week, Chairman Sharon Bulova said officials feared the program would lose federal funding if sequestration cuts were implemented.

This Tuesday, Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill) will introduce a resolution committing the Board of Supervisors and the School Board to developing a comprehensive plan to eliminate the waiting list by 2018.

The revised budget package will also set a tax rate for the Tysons Transportation Service District.

Supervisors intend to adopt the bell-curve model that the tax district’s Advisory Board recommended in early April.

The rate would start at $0.04 per $100 of assessed value for residents and developers in the Tysons Service District — instead of starting with a higher, steady tax rate from the start.

Collections would begin July 1.

The rate would then increase to $0.05 in FY2015 and to $0.06 in FY2016.

From there, it would remain at $0.06 until FY2033, when it would jump to $0.07 for five years.

It would then decrease back to $0.06 until FY2045 and to $0.05 for FY2046 and FY2047, at which time the service district is projected to meet its obligation.

Click here for more information on the Fairfax County budget.


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