Fairfax County Town Hall Budget Meeting in Vienna
-- Charles McAndrew, February 24, 2018
Rob Whitfield and I attended a Town Hall Budget meeting at the James Madison High School in Vienna yesterday for two hours. Chairman Sharon Bulova, Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins, Laurie DiRocco, Mayor of Vienna, the new Fairfax County Executive Bryan Hill, and Joe Mondero Chief Financial Officer of Fairfax County. No one was there from the Fairfax County School system.
The County Executive stated that he wanted the County to allow him and his staff to fully fund FY 2019 budget along with increasing the real estate taxes and in return, he will focus on streamlining the county budget and reduce redundant programs so that next year the County won't have to raise real estate taxes and the budget. The County Executive stated that Fairfax County has a population of almost 1.2 million compared to James City County of around 76,000 where he came from as County Executive before accepting his new job as Fairfax County Executive. He also emphasized that there are 46 counties in the USA including Fairfax County that have a TRIPLE A bond rating. Here are the items discussed:
Budget
FY 2019 General Fund Revenues will increase $192.32 million, or 4.69%, over
the FY 2018 Adopted Budget Plan which will be $4.29 billion. The largest
item under General Fund Receipts is 65.3% from Real Estate Taxes, followed
by revenue from Personal Property Tax at 14.5%, local taxes such as sales
tax, B.P.O.L., and consumer utility taxes at 12.1%, and the rest of the
revenue are all small numbers. Revenues are projected to grow 2.6%
primarily driven by moderate growth in real estate.
FY 2019 General Fund Disbursements will increase $181.48 million, or 4.42% over the FY 2018 Adopted Budget which will be $4.288 billion. The largest disbursement goes to schools at almost 53%, Public Safety at 12%, Health and Welfare at 11% and Nondepartmental at 9.2% (do NOT know what this is). This fully funds compensation for all County employees. It funds priorities such as Diversion First, Gang and Opioid Prevention efforts, Early Childhood initiatives, and the South County Police positions. There will be an estimated net increase of 77 positions countywide.
The Grand Total of the Fairfax County budget is projected to be $8.42 billion. The County Executive and mainly the Chief Financial Officer gave the budget presentation. Keep in mind that the official inflation rate is currently 2.10% and, as you see above, the increases in the General Fund Revenues and General Funds Disbursements and with the Real Estate rate increase along with the assessment rate rising an average of 3%, it appears that these rates are more than DOUBLE the inflation rate!
Real Estate Taxes
The recommended Real Estate Tax rate will be $1.155 per $100 of assessed
value -- an increase of 2.5 cents. The storm water fees will increase
slightly as part of the real estate bill. This 2.5 cents increase in the
Real Estate Taxes will increase the average tax bill approximately $268
annually. This does not include the raise in the assessed value of your
property which will add to the rate increase. With NO change to the real
estate tax rate, support to schools would be reduced by more than $28 million
from what is already included in the FY 2019 proposal. Also the County's
Market Rate Adjustment would be partially funded at 1.26% instead of the
2.25% requested. The real estate picture has improved slightly with growth
during 2017 and is now projected at 2.82%
Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS)
The FCPS budget is approximately $2.9 billion total. An overall increase
for the FCPS is projected to be 4.38%. The transfer of county funds to the
FCPS will be $2.264 billion, which includes operating funds, debt service,
and capital. This amount fully funds the School Board's requested transfer
after accounting for increased state revenue. It begins to address the FCPS
capital needs with the assumption of an annual increase of $25 million in
school bonds. There were no officials from the FCPS to present the school
budget nor was a FCPS BUDGET available. One particular item that came out
of this discussion is that 2/3 of the FCPS contracts are SOLE SOURCE
CONTRACTS. I was not given the dollar amount.
Real Estate - Commercial and Residential
Office vacancy rates are declining and, as of mid-year 2017, the office
vacancy rate was 15.4%, down from 15.8% at the end of 2016. The amount of
empty office space declined to 18.9 million sq-ft out of 116.5 million
sq-ft. Office real estate assessed values improved for a third consecutive
year. Residential properties comprise approximately 74% of the total base.
The average price of homes rose in CY 2017 by 4.3% in Fairfax County.
There are more than 342,000 residential properties in Fairfax County.
WMATA (includes MetroRail)
The total budget for WMATA funding from Fairfax County is approximately
$250 million. This breaks down to almost $150 million for operations and
almost $100 million for capital. Funding comes from state aid, gas tax
receipts, general fund support, and General Obligation bonds and opting
into WMATA debt according to the Chief Financial Officer.
-- Charles McAndrew, FCTA board member