Lee District Supervisor to Host Fairfax County Budget Q and A

Supervisor McKay, Lee District School Board Rep Tammy Kaufax will host the meeting in Franconia.

Lee District Supervisor Jeff McKay, Lee District School Board Representative Tammy Kaufax, and county and schools budget staff will host a presentation and Q and A session on the proposed Fairfax County budget Wednesday night.  "Over the past decade we’ve worked hard at diversifying our economy but between 10 and 20 percent of our local economy is related to defense or federal contracting to the tune of about $25 billion," McKay said in an email sent to constituents on Monday. "With a substantial amount of the county’s workforce involved in some way with what happens on the federal side, that’s a lot of potential drop in retail sales, car purchases, home sales, and the like." The budget presentation and Q and A will take place from 7 to 9 …

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Questions on Fairfax County Budget? Join Thursday's Online Q&A

County Executive Ed Long will chat with residents on proposed $7 billion Fiscal Year 2014 county budget.

Do you have questions about Fairfax County’s FY2014 proposed budget? Your chance to get answers from County Executive Ed Long is coming Thursday morning. Long will host an hour-long chat starting at 9:30 a.m. Thursday to discuss his proposed $7 billion budget, which he unveiled for officials and the public Tuesday. The advertised package includes a 2-cent increase in the real estate tax rate from $1.075 per $100 of assessed value to $1.095. The increase is projected to raise nearly $42 million in count revenue. But when coupled with increases in real estate assessments, the proposed rate would cost the average county household about $262 more in real estate taxes. The budget also reduces funding for parks and libraries, and allots the …

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Fairfax County Budget Proposal Raises Taxes, Cuts Services

No employee pay increases in Fiscal Year 2014 spending plan, which would increase average household taxes by $262 and give Fairfax County Public Schools $62 million less than officials asked for.

Fairfax County Executive Ed Long unveiled Tuesday his $7 billion FY2014 budget proposal, a plan that raises real estate taxes and cuts funds to parks and libraries, among other services. Long’s advertised budget includes a 2-cent increase in the real estate tax rate from $1.075 per $100 of assessed value to $1.095. The increase is projected to raise nearly $42 million in count revenue. But when coupled with increases in real estate assessments, the proposed rate would cost the average county household about $262 more in real estate taxes. Revenue projections are generally flat for the coming year, showing a slight decrease in growth from 2.79 percent in FY2013 to 2.77 percent in FY2014. With sequestration around the corner, Long said the …

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Sen.-Elect Tim Kaine Receives Committee Assignments

Soon-to-be Senator will serve on three committees important to Northern Virginia.

Senator-elect Tim Kaine, who will be sworn into office Jan. 3, will serve on three Senate committees important to Northern Virginia. His office announced he will serve on the following committees: Kaine had asked to join Armed Services, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Foreign Relations and Small Business and Entrepreneurship — in that order, according to a recent blog post on The Washington Post Web site. "I am excited to tackle these meaningful committee assignments," Kaine said in a news release. "Because of Virginia's deep connections to the military, through active duty personnel, veterans, military families and the private sector, Virginia needs a strong voice on the Armed Services committee as Congress makes decisions …

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Fairfax Officials: Sequestration Would Impact Budget By Spring

County relies on $290 million in Federal dollars, including $135 million for schools.

Fairfax County is staring down projected budget deficits in both Fiscal Years 2014 and 2015, and officials are waiting anxiously for Congress to make a decision on sequestration cuts that would only make those gaps worse. In a presentation Tuesday, County Executive Ed Long told Virginia legislators the county was projected to face shortfalls of $169 million in FY2014 and $274 million in 2015. And there’s no telling what sequestration would do to those numbers. The county currently relies heavily on about $290 million in Federal dollars, including $135 million for Fairfax County Public Schools, $58 million in Federal grants, $38 million for the General Fund and more. “We can certainly hope that sequestration does not kick in but there’s a …

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Transportation Funding Survey Opens Today

How do you think Fairfax County should fund $3 billion in needs over 10 years?

Fairfax County residents can provide input starting Monday on how the county should fund an estimated $3 billion gap in transportation funding over the next 10 years. From Monday to Sept. 12, residents can take an online survey and submit their thoughts on how Fairfax County transportation needs should be funded. The Board of Supervisors and the Transportation Advisory Committee will also host a series of nine public meetings in the coming weeks before making a decision. The first meeting will be held at 7 p.m. Monday at Springfield Government Center, 6140 Rolling Road, in Springfield. Officials have outlined 20 potential options to increase revenues for transportation infrastructure, including a 1 percent sales tax on services and a .5 …

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Richmond Report

Budgets Are Moral Documents, So Let’s Put Pragmatism Over Ideology

A Richmond Report from Alexandria's delegate

By Delegate David Englin, 45th District As the halfway point of this year’s General Assembly session quickly approaches, our attention has turned to the state’s two-year budget. I believe strongly that budgets are moral documents that determine whom we lift up and whom we leave out. Governor McDonnell’s proposed budget includes some laudable new spending on higher education, economic development, and shoring up the state employee pension trust fund. However, Governor McDonnell puts Grover Nordquist’s No Tax Pledge ahead of the needs of the most vulnerable Virginians, so he is making these worthy investments by balancing the budget on the backs of children and the poor. By changing the way state money for public education is calculated, …

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3:30 pm on Thursday, February 9, 2012

It's called social engineering. NoVA lawmakers can't get enough of it.   more ›

School Board Passes Budget With Full-Day Kindergarten, Teacher Raises, Athletic Fee Cap

School board members say future budgets must better address teacher raises, per pupil funding

The Fairfax County School Board approved a 1 percent pay raise for employees and county-wide full-day kindergarten with a unanimous passage of a $2.2 billion fiscal year 2012 budget late Thursday night. A handful of parents supporting full-day kindergarten, all dressed in white shirts as a show of solidarity for their cause, cheered when the budget finally passed. They hoisted placards thanking school officials for implementing “full-day K” after the vote was final. “It is unfair to deny students the same educational opportunity as their peers just because of the neighborhood in which their parents live,” said board member Elizabeth Bradsher (Springfield). “We’re correcting that tonight.” The vote will put full-day kindergarten in place at…

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Delegates Propose Budget With Deep Cuts To Education

House and Senate, each with vastly differing bottom lines for K-12 education, must rectify a budget by session's end

The Virginia General Assembly is gearing up for a fight over next year's budget, and education has taken center stage after one chamber proposed deep cuts in K-12 funding. The House of Delegates' version of the 2012 budget delivers a hard blow to public schools, taking away approximately $93 million in funding overall, with almost $6 million taken away from Fairfax County Public Schools. Combined with education cuts last year, this slice is coupled with several unfunded mandates the school district must face, according to Del. Scott Surovell (D-Fairfax); a physical education requirement which will cost FCPS an estimated $8 million and an online SOL requirement that will also cost approximately $8 million. The House budget also includes a $…

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Supervisors Don't Support FCPS Teacher Pay Raises

Board of Supervisors will likely force the school board's hand.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors met with the county school board Tuesday to discuss the 2012 fiscal budget and the fate of the federal stimulus grant. The school board decided last week to use the $21.3 million for teacher compensation, particularly to end some of the freezes and increase salaries that had been cut. Tessie Wilson, the FCPS's budget chairwoman, claims the proposal seeks two percent cost-of-living increases and step pay increases. But according to the Board of Supervisors, FCPS' intended plan will dig the district further into debt. The proposed increases will cost more than $60 million—triple the amount of funds they have available to apply to it. The supervisors have made it abundantly clear they have no intention …

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