Fairfax County employees and school officials at public hearings April 16 through 18 lobbied to protect their jobs and increase funding, while residents urged the Board of Supervisors to rein in spending.
The April 16 testimony began with a presentation from Fairfax County Public Schools, which receives slightly more than half the county’s general-fund budget each year.
School Board Chairman Karl Frisch (Providence District) said FCPS’s budget request does not include new initiatives, but seeks more money to recruit and retain the best teachers.
While enrollment has plateaued at a lower level since the 2019-20 school year, the school system’s demographics have changed, Frisch said. Nearly 10,000 more students qualify for free and reduced-price meals, 7.4 percent more require special-education services and 5.1 percent more receive multi-language support, he said.
Frisch also lamented state underfunding of education, saying it equated to about $2,000 less per student than the national average.
“The time for action is now,” he said for higher state funding. “Further delay is not an option.”
Siobhan Chase, Fairfax County Chapter vice president of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association, opposed the county government’s proposal to eliminate animal-protection police officer positions.
“This proposal that has haphazardly been put forward by county management shows little to no benefit to the community, to the budget or to county operations,” she said. “Furthermore, it is damaging to the county’s commitment to transparency, productive labor relations and employee-equity initiatives.”
Several county animal-protection police officers also weighed in against the cuts.
Louise Epstein, who chairs McLean Citizens Association’s Budget & Taxation Committee, said the group is concerned about rising property taxes and the county’s ability to pay growing costs related to capital expenses, pension programs and Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority deficits.
Supervisors should have county staff identify possible budget cuts and implement a five-year strategic plan that limits residential-property-tax increases to the rate of inflation, Epstein said.
This year, that would amount to no more than a 1-cent increase on the tax rate. Supervisors have advertised for up to a 4-cent hike, she said.
FCPS also should justify spending $80 million in bond funds to build a new Dunn Loring Elementary School, as surrounding schools are not overcrowded, she added.
Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance president Arthur Purves cautioned supervisors against taxing their constituents too much, citing sizable cumulative pay increases for county employees over the past three years.
Purves urged supervisors to freeze salaries until the school system improves its arithmetic curriculum; the county implements business-friendly permitting and inspection processes; the county and school system prove they are losing employees to the private sector because of compensation; and supervisors cease accepting political contributions from unions.
Brian Engler, chairman of the Fairfax County Public Library Board of Trustees, pressed for a permanent budget increase for the library system’s materials collection.
Effects of an inadequate collections budget each year include not enough electronic materials to meet growing demand, insufficient copies of homework-related materials for students, longer wait times for books and old or outdated items in many subject areas, he said.
Fairfax County Sheriff Stacy Kincaid on April 18 asked supervisors for an additional $2.9 million for a 3.5-percent pay increase for sworn staff, in hopes of stemming the attrition that has plagued the understaffed agency.
County police and fire personnel have negotiated higher wages through collective bargaining, but Virginia sheriff’s offices do not do so because of opposition from downstate sheriffs, she said. Kincaid hopes state lawmakers will approve legislation making collective bargaining an option for sheriff’s offices in localities that request it.
The Sheriff’s Office has a 26-percent staffing-vacancy rate and that could reach 30 percent by year’s end, possibly resulting in agency staff members’ being withdrawn from the Sharon Bulova Center for Community Health and Fairfax County Department of Code Compliance, she said.
Kincaid already has mandated overtime and implemented program cutbacks. Higher pay would improve employee retention, make the Sheriff’s Office’s recruiting efforts more competitive and “send the message to my staff that this county appreciates them for what they do and all they sacrifice,” Kincaid said.
Supervisors will approve the fiscal 2025 budget May 7 and it will take effect July 1.
