Thank you to all the residents who participated in this year’s budget process — whether you wrote to me, attended one of my budget town meetings or testified before the Board of Supervisors over three days of hearings. Your voices were heard, and your input helped shape the decisions we made.
I also want to thank County Executive Bryan Hill, our County staff and Chairman Jeff McKay for their leadership in bringing stakeholders together to reach a balanced and forward-looking budget. This was not an easy year, and the work they did to build consensus was critical.
Locally, I’m proud of the services we’ve restored and protected. Ambulance service has been reinstated in the southern part of the County at Gunston and Crosspointe — something critical to our public safety, where minutes can make the difference in an emergency. We also reinstated CERT and appreciate the essential community-based programs they provide, as well as our school crossing guards.
On education, I remain concerned. For the second year in a row, Fairfax County Public Schools asked for more than a 10% increase, which was only partially funded. Going forward, FCPS must take a hard look at its administrative costs and identify opportunities to redirect funding toward the classroom and teachers. I am proud that we were able to continue support for middle school after-school programs, an initiative I championed while serving you on the School Board.
We’ve continued funding for services that support seniors, survivors of domestic violence and our park system. I also continue to advocate to fully staff our Lorton Police Station, including a community outreach officer in the near term. We continue to build on our commitment to affordable housing, with programs that are not just symbolic but successful in expanding access to safe, stable homes for all residents.
Environmental sustainability remains a core priority. This Board has adopted a meaningful climate strategy and we are backing it with real investments to drive down carbon emissions and progressing toward our goal of net-zero, while saving far more funds than we invest.
That said, we are facing growing financial headwinds. New federal tariffs imposed by President Trump are expected to increase costs across our economy, for families and businesses alike. These national challenges are especially poignant in Fairfax County and only reinforce how important it is that we diversify our revenue sources.
One avenue we’ve consistently discussed, and that the Mount Vernon Council of Citizens' Associations (MVCCA) and many of you supported. is the implementation of a meals tax. This will help us offset the reliance on property taxes while funding essential community services. I opposed raising the real estate tax rate, and in fact we reduced it by ¼ cent to $1.1225 per $100 of assessed value and instead supported diversifying our revenue base by implementing a 4% food and beverage tax. This approach will ease the burden on homeowners while preserving the services our community relies on.
Similarly, the Transient Occupancy (Hotel) Tax revenue is crucial to support tourism in Mount Vernon. Our marketing budget for tourism is significantly lower than those of neighboring jurisdictions, including our neighbor, the City of Alexandria. We know that increasing investment in tourism brings long-term returns to the County.
This was a difficult budget year, and it's only going to get tougher. The financial impact of federal policies is compounded by Virginia's ongoing underfunding of Fairfax County. The recent JLARC (Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission) report showed that if the state met its own funding recommendations, Fairfax County would receive an additional $600 million annually. Today, we only receive about 50 cents back on every dollar we send to Richmond. If we received just one cent more (51 cents) on the dollar, we could cut our tax rate by 25 cents. It's frustrating and unfair that our residents are substantially subsidizing the rest of the state. The Northern Virginia Delegation understands this, and I urge them to continue to push for a fairer return of our tax dollars.
Looking ahead, I’d like to see the Board initiate earlier and deeper discussions about service improvements and cost-saving strategies, giving us more time to involve residents. We need to modernize where possible, streamline our approaches and better align our spending with the evolving needs of our residents.
Fairfax County is known for its excellent services and quality of life. Let’s keep it that way by being strategic, forward-thinking and grounded in the values of the people we serve.