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Questions for the Board of Supervisors

The Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance asked the Board of Supervisors to consider the following questions, which were submitted on the County's chat link before Feb 28. Three of these were answered as shown below. View the actual Q&A.

1. Q: Since the start of the housing bubble in 2000, what has been the average annual raise for Fairfax County employees (excluding school board employees)?
   Answer: ?

2. Q: How many applicants are there for every Fairfax County job opening?
   Answer (Fx Co Exec): In 2013, the Department of Human Resources advertised 1,016 positions; in total 232,358 resumes were received for those 1,016 positions.

3. Please describe Fairfax County pension benefits.
   1. Q: What is the retirement age?
      Answer: ?
   2. Q: What is the pension compared to the salary?
      Answer: ?
   3. Q: Does the pension increase with inflation?
      Answer: ?

4. Q: What is the unfunded liability of Fairfax County pension programs?
   Answer: ?

5. Q: Please describe the health insurance plans for Fairfax County employees.
   -- What is the in-network deductible?
   -- What is the in-network co-pay?
   -- What is the maximum out-of-pocket cost?
   Answer (Fx Co Exec): Individual, two party, or family coverage is available. The County pays 85 percent of the cost for individual coverage and 75 percent of cost for two-party or family coverage for employees scheduled to work more than 30 hours per week. There are currently four health insurance plans for County employees. They each have different premiums and structures but in summary they are:

   Open Access Plus Co-Pay Plan (OAP-Co-pay): The OAP-Co-pay plan is managed by CIGNA. The plan features a national network of providers and a co-pay structure for office visits and other services. This plan allows members to see any licensed provider they choose but benefits are higher when they receive care from a provider in the OAP network. In addition, while members are encouraged to choose a primary care physician to coordinate their care, no referrals are needed to access care from specialists.

   Open Access Plus 90% Coinsurance Plan (OAP-90%): The OAP-90% plan is managed by CIGNA. The plan features a national network of providers and uses co-insurance and modest deductibles to help reduce the cost of the plan for participants. The annual out-of-pocket maximum protects you in the event of serious illness, injury or chronic conditions. This plan allows members to see any licensed provider they choose but benefits are higher when they receive care from a provider in the OAP network. In addition, while members are encouraged to choose a primary care physician to coordinate their care, no referrals are needed to access care from specialists.

   Open Access Plus 80% Coinsurance Plan (OAP-80%): The OAP-80% plan is managed by CIGNA. The plan features a national network of providers and uses co-insurance and deductibles to help reduce the cost of the plan for participants. This plan does not provide the full range of covered benefits provided by the other Cigna managed plans, but offers a lower payroll contribution option for employees. The annual out-of-pocket maximum protects the employee in the event of serious illness, injury or chronic conditions. This plan allows members to see any licensed provider they choose but benefits are higher when they receive care from a provider in the OAP network. In addition, while members are encouraged to choose a primary care physician to coordinate their care, no referrals are needed to access care from specialists.

   Health Maintenance Organization (HMO): The HMO plan is managed by Kaiser Permanente. In this plan, each member must select a Primary Care Physician at the Kaiser center where they will receive most of their care. Centers are located in communities throughout the area. Patient records are maintained at the Center and decisions about patient care are made by the physicians there.

6. Since the start of the housing bubble in 2000...
   1. Q: How much have Fairfax County personnel costs increased?
      Answer: ?
   2. Q: What percentage of the increase was for new employees?
      Answer: ?
   3. Q: What percentage was for raises?
      Answer: ?
   4. Q: What percentage was for the increased costs of health insurance and pensions?
      Answer: ?

7. Q: How much money have government employee unions donated to supervisor election campaigns?
   Answer: ?

8. In the adopted budget document...
   -- Will there be a summary of the changes between the County Executive's proposed budget and the adopted budget?
   -- Why has this summary been missing from past adopted budget documents?
   Answer (Fx Co Exec): County staff is always looking for ways to improve the County budget documents. Currently the specific changes made by the Board of Supervisors to the Advertised Budget are included in a package called the Budget Markup. In addition, there is a summary of what is included in the FY 2104 Adopted Budget.

   Staff will work on options to link these two steps in the process more clearly.

9. Q: What is the real estate tax rate that offsets the increase in assessments?
   Answer: ?

10. Q: Since 2000, how much have real estate taxes increased for the typical Fairfax County homeowner?
    Answer (FCTA): Between FY2000 and FY2014 real estate taxes for the typical Fairfax County homeowner increased from $2400 to $5100, a 112 percent increase. Over the same period, inflation was 47 percent.