Fairfax County supervisors on April 16 unanimously agreed to quintuple the Department of Code Compliance’s administrative fee for abating and removing signs illegally placed within highway limits from $10 to $50 per sign.
That fee, which will take effect July 1, is in addition to the $100-per-sign civil penalty.
Illegal signs long have been a concern to county leaders. The Board of Supervisors in March 2013 entered into an agreement with the state Commissioner of Highways to have Fairfax County serve as the commissioner’s agent in removing signs from within highway limits in the county.
The Sheriff’s Office’s Community Labor Force then began collecting signs in eight-hour shifts Tuesdays through Thursdays. This arrangement cost the Sheriff’s Office about $32,000 annually for operating expenses for two trucks and nearly $150,000 per year to assign one deputy per truck during those shifts.
The Department of Code Compliance in 2016 began its own illegal-sign-abatement program and staffed it with two non-merit employees, each costing $65,520 per year. The department also used two vehicles for the program, each of which cost about $4,800 per year to operate.
Supervisors in January 2017 implemented the $10-per-sign administrative fee, which remained unchanged for seven years until the board raised it April 16.
The program now monitors 99 major county roads. Employees document and photograph illegal signs, then remove them the next day. The signs’ owners then have five calendar days to pick up the removed placards from the Interstate 66 Transfer Station.
The Department of Code Compliance has invoiced sign violators for a total of $309,320 and recouped $252,710, for an 82-percent collection rate.
Because of staffing constraints, the Sheriff’s Office Community Labor Force in 2022 told supervisors it could no longer continue its sign-removal program. The General Assembly, at the Board of Supervisors’ request, in 2023 passed legislation allowing the board to hire contractors to remove signs from rights-of-way. The bill took effect July 1 last year.
The new fee increase will generate about $12,000 more revenue per year, county officials estimated.
No one spoke at the public hearing and supervisors approved the motion by Chairman Jeff McKay (D) without further discussion.
