Board approves 3-cent tax increase
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a marked-up budget package for FY 2025 on April 30 that raises the property tax rate by 3 cents – to $1.125 per $100 of assessed value.
That is one cent less than the $1.135 rate in the advertised budget proposed in February.
The 3-cent increase will add just over $450 to the average real estate tax bill.
The board is scheduled to formally adopt a final budget on May 7, although it is not expected to make any changes.
Related story: Proposed county budget would raise taxes
The budget also phases in zoning, fire marshal, land development, and senior center fee increases over two years.
Funding for Fairfax County Public Schools remains unchanged from the advertised budget proposal. The marked-up budget transfers an additional $165 million (a 6.8 percent increase) for the FCPS operating budget.
That is approximately $89 million less than the $254 million in additional funding requested by FCPS. Board members agreed that approving the full 10.5 percent requested increase would have placed too heavy of a burden on taxpayers.
Board members urged the state to increase its investment in education, citing a study by the Joint Legislative Audit & Review Commission that found Virginia schools receive 14 percent less in per-pupil funding than the national average.
Most general county employees will see a compensation increase ranging from 3.25 to 6 percent in FY 2025. That includes a performance and longevity increase and funding for a 2 percent market rate adjustment. Close to 1,200 of these employees will also receive an additional 5 percent increase based on the results of annual benchmark reviews.
The budget also funds the contracts negotiated with the county’s two public safety unions as part of the recently established collective bargaining process.
Non-union public safety employees in the Office of the Sheriff will receive merit and longevity increases, with many benefiting from a new 10-year longevity step, in addition to the market rate adjustment.
Related story: Mason District supervisor hosts a budget town hall
Additional funding adjustments approved by the board as part of the mark-up include a $2,000 increase in the stipend for Planning Commission members and $25,000 to restore the Youth Leadership Program, which provides opportunities for high school students to intern with county agencies during the summer. The board deferred proposed increases in the county fuel budget and information technology investments.
“The FY 2025 budget is a sound and responsible budget that maintains our core services, invests in the people who provide them, and prepares the county for future, manageable growth without new major programmatic spending,” said Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay.
“It is a challenging year, with rising property values and inflation contributing to a higher cost of living,” McKay noted.
He also called for the state to modernize the taxing structure to allow localities to implement new revenue sources. The current system forces Fairfax County to rely on increasingly regressive taxes like the residential real estate tax to fund essential services.
8 responses to “Board approves 3-cent tax increase”
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“Essential services” like enforcing the law?
I don’t want to be conflated with the reactionary anti-any-tax crowd but I do want to see evidence of the board being good stewards of our tax dollars and making difficult decisions to keep spending in check. I don’t know what that means, but I’m not the official that’s elected and paid to figure it out
You trust FFX county government to wisely spend your money? That’s adorable! 🥰
County employees will get up to 11% raises if they get a performance and longevity increase and ann increase based on the results of annual benchmark reviews?! This is wildly unsustainable. Private sector and federal employees aren’t seeing these kinds of raises.
How about targeting raises to hard-to-fill roles or essential frontline folks like cops? And then offer the others a flat-rate COLA rather than enriching the most tenured staff while junior hires struggle to live here.
The BOS are firmly in the pocket of their SEIU endorsers.
The property tax rate increased 3%, but how much did assessments rise? And then how much did overall property tax revenues rise? Those are the questions not answered here.
Elections do have consequences, everyone eligible should vote. With lower turnout in VA off year elections – every vote matters even more because the people that turn out have their interests at stake. When one political party dominates the elected officials in power, plus lower turnout in off year elections (smaller number of voters), then politicians are captured by small but active & organized groups that do vote. Who to vote for in both primaries or general election is your choice, educate yourself, and then vote.
After I learned of this predictable property tax hike, I remembered previously reading this comment from the Washington Post: “Jeffrey C. McKay (D), chair of the county board, called Reid’s request [for a 4 cent tax hike] “entirely unrealistic” after Hill’s presentation was finished.” So, it’s gratifying that McKay stuck to his guns and thereby saved property owners a whopping one cent.
I’ve resided in Fairfax County for decades. However, I have yet to see any indication that voters vote their pocketbooks. They’re much more driven by hot button social issues . As a result, the activist Democratic majority on the BOS has had free rein to set tax rates. What surprises me though is that the obviously free spending Democrats on the BOS haven’t yet enacted a meals tax. Such a tax was previously defeated by Fairfax voters in numerous referendums. However, that was before the Fairfax Democratic contingent in Richmond abolished that inconvenient requirement. So, wait for it folks. It’s coming to a convenience store near you.
Year after year, if the housing assessments do not go up enough for the BofS to have lots of money to spend, they threaten to make some outrageous increase. Then, in a spirit of “fiscal restraint”, they lower the outrageous amount by a penny (which is what they secretly planned all along). When are voters going to wake up and vote these people out? Unfortunately, Rip Van Winkle rules around here. No one ever wakes up.