Christmas Day has come and gone, but the trees festooned with lights and tinsel for the occasion need to stay up for another week if you’re counting on a curbside pickup.
For the roughly 10% of residents served by Fairfax County, the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services will collect live trees for recycling from Jan. 1-13 as part of its regular waste services.
Private trash companies licensed to operate in the county are also required to pick up trees 8 feet or shorter that are set outside in single-family and townhouse communities during the first two weeks in January.
“At the end of the two-week collection period, residents serviced by the County can schedule a brush pick-up for trees,” DPWES said in a news release. “Those who utilize a private company should contact their hauler with questions regarding collection of Christmas trees following the two-week period for special tree collection.”
Community members can also dispose of their trees directly at the I-66 Transfer Station (4618 West Ox Road) and I-95 Landfill Complex (9850 Furnace Road) in Lorton during their operating hours, though both have a $9 recycling fee for Christmas trees.
Trees that get recycled are turned into mulch that the county offers to residents.
Lights, ornaments, stands and other accessories must be removed before disposal.
“DPWES asks residents to dispose of tree lights in their recycling or trash because they get tangled in our machinery and their components are bad for the environment,” the department said, noting that lights can be dropped off at the county’s e-waste disposal sites or potentially local hardware stores.
For artificial trees, the county advises donating them to a charitable organization or church if they’re still in good condition. Local options include the Springfield nonprofit ECHO, which accepts Christmas trees in November and December, and GreenDrop sites, which also accept decorations.
In the Town of Vienna, curbside collection services will be provided for natural Christmas trees throughout January, and Town of Herndon residents can get trees picked up on their regularly scheduled trash day from Jan. 3-5 and Jan. 10-12.
Updated at 3:15 p.m. — Southbound Reston Parkway has reopened at Market Street after an extended closure due to this morning’s fatal pedestrian crash, police say.
Earlier: A pedestrian was killed in a crash on Reston Parkway earlier this morning (Tuesday).
Police said at 8:16 a.m. that a vehicle hit the adult man on Reston Parkway near Market Street in Reston. The man was taken to the hospital, where he died.
The driver remained on the scene of the incident, which occurred around 7:14 a.m., according to scanner traffic on Open MHz. A dispatcher described the vehicle as a gray Mercedes.
The southbound lanes of Reston Parkway are closed.
“Crash reconstruction detectives are investigating,” the Fairfax County Police Department said. “…Please avoid the area.”
Crash Reconstruction detectives are investigating. Reston Parkway SB is closed. Please avoid the area. [2/2]
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) December 26, 2023
One Found Dead in Christmas Morning Fire — “One person was found dead in a Christmas morning fire at a townhouse in the Centreville area of Fairfax County, according to firefighters. Firefighters from Fairfax County Fire and Rescue arrived at the home in the 14100 block of Red River Drive early on Monday morning, they said in a release.” [NBC4]
Affair at Center of Frying Pan Area Killings — “A website that caters to people with sexual fetishes may have been used as part of a ploy to draw a man to a Herndon home before he and a woman living in the house were killed, according to new allegations laid out in the Fairfax County bond hearing of an au pair charged with murder in the case.” [Washington Post]
FCPS Concludes Review of Privacy Breach — “An investigation into how Fairfax County Public Schools accidentally shared other students’ private information with a parent during a fall meeting has concluded, Superintendent Michelle Reid said in a letter to families Thursday. The external review…found that the data breach occurred because the parent had access to old thumb drives with unredacted files, the school division said. [WTOP]
Demand High for Route 1 Hypothermia Shelters — “Fairfax County hypothermia shelters are filling up but have room for more people to come in out of the cold, according to figures provided by the Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) just before the longest night of the year…On the Route 1 corridor, during the week of Dec. 11, an average of 53 men and women per night slept in hypothermia shelters, according to HCD.” [On the MoVe]
County Police Report Rise in Violent Crime for 2023 — “The new report, released by Fairfax County Police in coordination with the Major Cities Chiefs Association, tracked violent crimes such as homicide, rape and robbery in 2023. Fairfax County ranked seventh among 69 participating jurisdictions, reporting an 8.7% increase in violent crimes overall, and increases in the number of rapes and aggravated assaults.” [WTOP]
Site Plan Approved for Restaurant Replacing Falls Church Motel — “The indoor-outdoor restaurant planned for the old Stratford Motor Lodge site can move forward after a site plan approval by the Falls Church Planning Commission Wednesday…A date for project completion is not yet known, but Dominion Wine and Beer’s Arash Tafakor told the Planning Commission it may come to fruition next year.” [Patch]
Firefighters Visit Kids at Inova for Holidays — “Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Santa, his elves, and reindeer ‘dropped in’ to spread holiday cheer to the kids at Inova Childrens Hospital. Members of #FCFRD @FairfaxCountyPD @PWCFireRescue rappelled ten stories, stopping at windows to say hi to kids and their families.” [FCFRD/Twitter]
New Bikeshare Stations Added in Tysons Area — “NEW STATION ALERT Check out the newest stations in Fairfax County(@ffxconnector), Prosperity Ave & Avenir Pl (funded by @novatransit) and Old Meadow Rd & Old Meadow Ln.” [Capital Bikeshare/Twitter]
It’s Tuesday — Expect rain mainly after 1pm, with cloudy skies and a high near 51. Precipitation chances are at 70%, with less than a tenth of an inch possible. Tuesday night will bring more rain and a low around 48. Precipitation chances increase to 90% for between a quarter to half an inch. [Weather.gov]
Home sales in Northern Virginia declined 9.8% in November from the same month in 2022, but were up 12.5% from October, according to new data from the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors.
The year-over-year decline continued a trend that has been ongoing since the middle of 2022 although it was not as much as in some prior months. And prices rose 5.7% from November 2022, NVAR reported.
“November data show that the market continues to adjust in this post-COVID time, and we haven’t quite found a new normal. We do know that housing inventory remains limited which drives down home sales. That in turn drives up demand for those limited homes to choose from, which leads to higher home prices,” said Casey Menish of Pearson Smith Realty and an NVAR board member. “I am optimistic that as mortgage rates fall, we will see more people ready to sell their homes, and more buyers ready to pick up their home searches where they left them.”
The months’ supply of inventory in November was 1.05, up just slightly (0.3%) from November 2022 but down from October’s 1.23 months. The average days on the market in November was 20, down significantly (23.1%) from the prior year but a little higher than October’s 17 days.
Homebuyers continued to have few options and that meant higher prices. The median sold price for a home in November was $656,500. That’s up almost 22% from the pre-pandemic November 2019 median sold price of $538,250.
NVAR’s newly released 2024 economic housing forecast, produced in conjunction with George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis, indicated that the residential and commercial real estate markets have not yet reached a post-pandemic normal. The forecast reported a possible downturn despite the economy attracting regional workers and creating jobs. As such, overall sales activity is expected to decline in 2024.
Another COVID outcome cited in the forecast is an increase in intraregional migration patterns — especially to distant suburbs — spurred by more work-from-home options.
“We expect home values to continue to increase due to historic low housing inventories across the region,” said Ryan McLaughlin, CEO of NVAR. “But we remain hopeful that recent spikes in mortgage rates will moderate and stabilize and help create ownership opportunities.”
The Northern Virginia Association of Realtors data include home sales in Fairfax and Arlington counties, the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax and Falls Church and the towns of Vienna, Herndon and Clifton. Here are highlights from the November report:
- Closed sales: 1,054, down 9.8% from November 2022 and also down from November 2019’s 1,430 closed sales.
- Average sold price: $780,193, up 9.2% from November 2022.
- Active listings: 1,407, down 23.9% from November 2022.
- Pending sales: 996, down 19% from November 2022.
Photo via Tierra Mallorca on Unsplash. This article was written by FFXnow’s news partner InsideNoVa.com and republished with permission. Sign up for InsideNoVa.com’s free email subscription today.
Truist is set to close 11 D.C. area locations, including the pictured one in Springfield and one in Reston (via Google Maps)
Customers that bank at Truist in Reston and Springfield may soon have to make some changes.
The company, Truist Financial Corp., plans to close its Reston (11100 South Lakes Drive) and Springfield (6810 Commerce Street) locations early next year.
The closures were disclosed in a letter to customers in this month, according to the Washington Business Journal.
Here’s more on the closures from the WBJ:
A Truist spokesperson said declines in foot traffic and transaction volume in its branches drove the decision to close these locations, along with others it’s shuttering in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and other markets within its footprint. On average, there’s another Truist branch within about a mile of any location it’s closing, the spokesperson said.
There will also be layoffs associated with the move, though the company didn’t specify how many. A spokesperson said the bank is “committed to supporting teammates affected by these branch closures through this transition.” There are some new positions being created at other branches and employees will have “elevated access” to other jobs within Truist, the spokesperson said.
Truist has nearly 200 branches in the D.C. area, 11 of which will close in March. Five of the ones slated for closure in March are in D.C., four are in Prince George’s County and two are in Fairfax County.
Truist’s closure in Reston will give South Lakes Village Center a second vacant bank building. The center owner had proposed turning the first building — which was filled by SunTrust — into a fast-food drive-thru, but the plan was put on hold indefinitely in May.
Image via Google Maps
Local government offices are closing early today (Friday) to give staff a head start on Christmas weekend.
With Christmas Eve falling on Sunday (Dec. 24) this year, Fairfax County, Fairfax City and the towns of Vienna and Herndon are all instead observing the occasion with a half-day today. All local government offices will shut down at noon, though schedules vary for some other public facilities and services.
Government offices will close all day on Monday (Dec. 25) for Christmas. The county courts, which are closing at noon today, will pause operations through Tuesday, Dec. 26, as will Fairfax County Public Schools, whose students have been on winter break since Dec. 18.
Here are other notable closures and schedule changes coming for the holidays:
Trash and recycling
Fairfax County won’t provide trash and recycling collection services on Christmas Day, bumping all customers back by a day throughout the week. The I-66 Transfer Station and I-95 Landfill Complex’s recycling and disposal centers will be closed Sunday and Monday.
The Town of Vienna and Fairfax City will both collect waste and recycling for both Monday and Tuesday customers on Dec. 26. Vienna won’t pick up brush and yard waste that day.
The Town of Herndon will make trash pick-ups as usual, but Monday recycling will be collected on Tuesday instead.
Transportation
Metro is running modified service on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, with trains and buses following Sunday schedules. Rail stations will be open from 7 a.m. to midnight.
Fairfax Connector will operate on a Sunday service schedule on Christmas Day, and its customer service center will be closed. In Fairfax City, the CUE bus system will follow its regular schedules except on Dec. 25, when the service will be closed.
Like it did for Thanksgiving, the Virginia Department of Transportation is suspending most highway work zones and lane closures on major roads, starting at noon today and continuing until noon on Tuesday, Dec. 26. Rush-hour tolls for the I-66 Express Lanes inside the Capital Beltway will be lifted on Christmas Day.
Community centers
The McLean Community Center will be closed on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
The Reston Community Center will close its Lake Anne facility on both days, but Hunters Woods (2310 Colts Neck Road) will open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 24. The Terry L. Smith Aquatics Center will be open from 9 a.m. to noon on Sunday before closing for Christmas Day.
The Herndon Community Center is open today from 7 a.m. to noon and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. It will close on Dec. 24-25. The Bready Park Tennis Center and Herndon Centennial Golf Course will also be closed on Christmas.
The Vienna Community Center will be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It’s also observing holiday hours of 8 a.m. to noon today and 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. from Dec. 26-29.
Libraries, Parks and Recreation
Fairfax County Public Library will close all branches at noon today, followed by closures on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Libraries will open tomorrow (Saturday) according to their regular hours.
All Fairfax County Park Authority facilities are open today except for the carousel at Clemyjontri Park in McLean and Sully Historic Site in Chantilly. For Christmas Eve, park visitor centers and other amenities will be closed, but all rec centers will open from 8 a.m. to noon, except for the George Washington Rec Center in Mount Vernon, which is opening at 9 a.m.
The park authority will close all facilities for Christmas Day.
In Fairfax City, both the Fairfax Museum and Visitor Center and Historic Blenheim are closed through Dec. 25.
Region’s Busiest Travel Period Underway — “If you’re someone who travels out of the D.C. region for the holidays, one of the busiest winter holiday travel days has arrived…While the regional airports might sound busy, AAA Mid-Atlantic predicts the vast majority of travelers in the D.C. metro area, 98%, will be driving to their destinations.” [WTOP]
Two Arrested for Fatal Franconia Shooting — “Two juvenile suspects have turned themselves in for their involvement in the Franconia shooting that left a Woodbridge man dead. [On Wednesday], officers were notified of two juvenile suspects who turned themselves in to Arlington Police. Both juveniles were transported to Fairfax County and charged.” [FCPD]
ICYMI: Child Hospitalized by Chantilly Crash — “A child has been hospitalized after they were hit by a driver just down the road from Chantilly High School. Fairfax County police officers responded to the intersection of Stringfellow Road and Poplar Tree Road around 5:09 p.m. for the crash.” [FFXnow]
Report Shows County’s Progress on Affordable Housing — “Fairfax County invested $51.9 million in affordable housing during the past fiscal year, according to the newly-released Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority’s (FCRHA) fiscal year 2023 annual report.” There was construction on 1,219 new homes with another 1,210 “in predevelopment,” and 936 people were moved from shelters into permanent housing. [FCRHA]
Winter Weather Outlook Suggests Potential for Snow — “Brian Lasorsa, lead meteorologist with the National Weather Service Baltimore/Washington Office, joined Courtney Arroyo, the Department of Emergency Management and Security’s community engagement manager, for a special winter weather outlook for Fairfax County and Northern Virginia…While the overall winter may be mildly warmer, Lasorsa expects things to turn a bit colder and snowier as we head into January, based on long-range forecasts.” [Fairfax County Emergency Information]
Commonwealth’s Attorney Gives Grants to Nonprofits — “Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano on Dec. 19 awarded grants to five Fairfax County nonprofits that serve child victims of crime and victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence. Descano awarded the $5,000 grants through the second annual Community Partnership Grant Program, an initiative he unveiled last year.” [Gazette Leader]
Assault Prompts Security Changes at Fort Belvoir — “The Fort Belvoir Garrison Commander temporarily suspended the garrison’s Trusted Traveler Program effective Dec. 19 due to the investigation of an alleged assault on the installation in the early morning hours of Dec. 18…Everyone in a vehicle who is 16 years of age or older will need to show a DoD or military ID card or obtain a visitor’s pass.” [On the MoVe]
Route 123 Pipe Replacement Finishes Early — “When a portion of sewer pipe on Chain Bridge Road was found to have deteriorated and needed immediate attention, Fairfax City crews and contractors were able to complete the project more than a week ahead of schedule, despite frigid temperatures and high wind conditions.” [City of Fairfax]
It’s Friday — Expect a gradual transition from mostly cloudy to sunny skies, with temperatures reaching a high of around 46 degrees. Friday night will be partly cloudy, with lows around 33 degrees, and a southeast wind ranging from 3 to 5 mph. [Weather.gov]
Cornerstones, the Reston-based nonprofit that runs the Embry Rucker Community Shelter, among other services, has received an early Christmas present in the form of a big check.
Earlier this month, The Rosendin Foundation — a charitable corporation that aims to support local communities through financial grants and volunteer work — awarded $20,000 to the organization.
Other organizations that received funds include:
- Women Giving Back ($25,000), a Sterling-based organization that serves women and children in crisis
- Mobile Hope ($10,000), a Leesburg group that provides support and emergency shelter to young people
- Our Minds Matter ($5,000), a youth suicide prevention organization centered in the D.C. area
- The Chris Atwood Foundation ($5,000), which is based in Fairfax and provides resources and advocacy for people affected by substance use
“The Rosendin Foundation continues to stand by its commitment to support community initiatives and organizations that resonate with our mission to positively impact communities, build and empower people, and inspire innovation,” The Rosendin Foundation President Jolsna Thomas said in a press release.
The organization is the charitable arm of Rosendin Holdings, which is based in San Jose, California, and one of the largest electrical contractors in the country.
With ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence-based tools becoming increasingly mainstream, Fairfax County Public Schools officials have started discussing potential guidelines to govern how the technology is used in the classroom.
The Fairfax County School Board broached the topic at work session forum on Nov. 28, led by outgoing board chair and Dranesville District representative Elaine Tholen and Sully District representative Stella Pekarsky.
While the discussion wasn’t recorded, Tholen says the school board felt it was a way to make the public aware that FCPS is developing a strategy for how it will handle AI, which is getting integrated into industries from public safety and health care to filmmaking.
“The School Board and FCPS recognizes that a comprehensive AI strategy is crucial for preparing students and educators for the future, enhancing the learning experience, and ensuring the school division remains competitive and adaptive in the rapidly evolving educational landscape,” Tholen said.
AI has been utilized for educational purposes for years, as apps like Duolingo and iNaturalist rely on algorithms that allow them to process data, identify patterns and adapt. But the recent advent of generative AI — which can create text, images and sound based on that data, with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and DALL-E as two high-profile examples — has raised new practical, legal and ethical questions.
In response to fears that students will use AI to cheat or do their homework, New York City Public Schools, Los Angeles Unified and other school districts have banned ChatGPT from their networks, while elsewhere, teachers suggest it could be a useful tool if handled responsibly.
The Highlander, McLean High School’s student newspaper, found that many students have at least experimented with AI, with 40% of 223 surveyed students admitting to utilizing it for at least one school assignment.
Fairfax County Federation of Teachers President David Walrod says the union’s members haven’t raised a lot of concerns about students using ChatGPT, but he’s aware that there are concerns “from teachers more generally across the country.”
“I do think it will require a change to some teaching practices, but I also see potential for positive change,” he told FFXnow.
In addition to using tools that can identify AI, similar to ones used to detect plagiarism, teachers may have to adjust what kinds of assignments they ask students to do at home versus in school, Walrod says. They could also put more emphasis on tasks that require students to show their work, such as an outline, graphic organizer or even a handwritten first draft for an essay.
While the technology presents challenges, it could help teachers by reducing or streamlining their workload. As examples, Walrod shared a hypothetical math lesson plan and discussion questions on the children’s novel “Bud, Not Buddy” generated by ChatGPT, noting that they could serve as “an effective starting point.”
“This doesn’t do all the work for me; I still need to generate examples, I need to find the materials to distribute, etc,” Walrod said by email regarding the math lesson plan. “But it does give me a general outline to follow and allows me to focus on preparing and creating the materials.”
According to the Highlander, some administrators in FCPS are also deploying AI tools “on a consistent basis,” using ChatGPT to help them write newsletters and other messages to the community, for instance. The school system approved ChatGPT and fellow chatbot Google Bard for staff use this year and has started providing training, the McLean High School students reported.
However, a clear framework is still needed to create boundaries and consistency around how FCPS students and employees use generative AI, which can produce results of questionable quality and accuracy and too often regurgitate biases from their underlying data.
According to Tholen, issues that future policies could address include:
- Ethical uses
- Cybersecurity and data privacy safeguards
- Equity and inclusion, including monitoring for any unintended consequences
- Professional development
- Accessibility
- Transparency around when and how the technology is used
- Guidelines for integrating AI into the curriculum
FCPS could also collaborate with outside experts, universities and other partners to support AI education and implementation.
Tholen says she’s “excited” to start that “groundbreaking work” after the school board voted earlier this year to contract the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) for a Lighthouse School pilot program, which will test “best practices for bringing innovation to learning.” About $500,000 for the pilot was included in the current fiscal year 2024 budget.
“Setting a solid foundation for future work in AI and Quantum will help us adapt as technologies continue to evolve,” Tholen said. “We must prepare our students for the future of work and society and position our school district as forward thinking and committed to providing a modern, relevant education.”
Walrod says he’s “very curious” to learn about FCPS’ plans for ensuring AI is used safely and effectively by students and teachers, noting that any policy should recognize that technology isn’t a substitute for people.
“Tools like AI cannot replace the human element, either in teaching or elsewhere in the workforce,” Walrod said. “Like any tool, AI has the potential to allow work to be done more effectively, but it still requires a skilled professional to oversee and fine tune it.”
Photo via Rolf van Root on Unsplash
Fairfax County is making progress on a stream restoration project at Lamplighter Way in Reston after receiving the needed land rights to move ahead with designing the project.
The project was identified by the county’s management plan for the Difficult Run watershed and a nomination by Reston Association, which owns the land.
With the project, the county will restore about 1,200 linear feet of natural stream channel between Lamplighter Way and Woodbrook Lane, extending downstream to Piney Run.
The stream channels are severely eroded and over-widened bank, leading to further bed and bank instability, according to the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services.
“Two sanitary sewer lines have been exposed by the erosion,” the department says on its project page. “This project is part of larger efforts to restore many of Fairfax County’s degraded streams while improving overall water quality and the condition of the Chesapeake Bay.”
The county will hold two public meetings on the project next month. A virtual meeting is set for Thursday, Jan 4 at 7 p.m. and an in-person meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 6 at 10 a.m. Participants should meet at the park trail entrance at Center Harbor Road.
The project design is 65% complete, and plans are under review. Once the review is completed, the final design phase will begin. Construction is expected to begin in the winter of 2024.
The project costs $464,000.
At the halfway point of his administration, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin unveiled a budget proposal that calls for significant income tax cuts, increases in state sales and use tax — and a push to get rid of the car tax, which the Republican called “the single most hated tax” in Virginia.
“The car tax belongs in the trash can and not in your mailbox,” he said.
Speaking to the state’s joint money committees Wednesday morning, Youngkin reiterated his familiar themes that Virginia must take action to reverse ongoing population losses to other states and reduce residents’ tax burdens.
“Across the country today, there are winning states and there are losing states,” he said. “Virginia must compete even harder.”
But the governor’s speech took a less political tone than earlier addresses to the state’s legislative budget architects, offering fewer criticisms of prior administrations and acknowledging that Virginia government remains divided after Democrats narrowly won control of both chambers of the legislature this November. That outcome dampened Youngkin’s prospects for a presidential run and will force him to work across the aisle to achieve his key priorities.
Because Virginia operates on a two-year budget that is amended annually, the “Unleashing Opportunity” budget presented by Youngkin Wednesday represents the governor’s first crack at crafting a state spending plan from whole cloth. The last two-year budget, which was passed in 2022, was based on a plan from outgoing Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam.
With power divided between Democrats and Republicans in Richmond and historic state surpluses fueled by pandemic-era relief spending, the past few years have seen unusual levels of contention over the state budget. Amendments to the spending plan, ordinarily passed at the time the General Assembly adjourns in late February or early March, took until September this year to come to fruition as the parties bickered.
“I would ask us to deliver a budget on time when you adjourn sine die in March,” Youngkin told the money committees on Wednesday, referring to the final adjournment of the legislative session. “Virginians deserve it, and I know we can do it.”
This year, lawmakers will have less money at their disposal, with pandemic-era infusions of cash at an end and state economic officials projecting a mild recession beginning in the last quarter of fiscal year 2024.
The “overwhelming consensus” of state leaders, said Youngkin, was that in developing the budget, “we should build in caution.”
Democrats have already signaled concerns with the governor’s spending plan — and some surprise.
“I heard the governor say this was halftime. And he came back out as a Democrat, a lot of tax increases,” wisecracked incoming House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, in an exchange with Virginia Secretary of Finance Stephen Cummings.
Senate Democrats on Wednesday afternoon issued a statement calling the governor’s budget “absolutely disgraceful” and “a slap in the face of our most vulnerable individuals.”
“We are smart enough and bold enough to know that his speech was the highlight reel and that he omitted the dirty details of his plan,” the caucus wrote. “Governor Youngkin believes that ensuring more tax cuts for wealthier individuals is most beneficial for low income individuals in our commonwealth.”
The proposal put forward by the governor Wednesday marks only the beginning of the state’s budget season. When the General Assembly convenes Jan. 10, both chambers will have a chance to modify Youngkin’s budget, removing parts they don’t like and accepting or strengthening those they do. The House and Senate will then need to reconcile their two versions of the plan — a process that historically has occurred behind closed doors through the legislature’s opaque conference committee system — and send it to the governor for his review.
“While we appreciate Governor Youngkin for sharing his budgetary vision today, it is imperative that we have a thorough examination of his proposal,” said Del. Luke Torian, D-Prince William, the incoming chair of the House Appropriations Committee. “This is the starting point to construct a budget that not only reflects our dedication, but also secures prosperity and fairness for every resident in the commonwealth.”
Here’s some of what Youngkin is proposing at the starting line.
Tax reforms
Youngkin has heavily emphasized tax reduction over the course of his administration, and the issue is the centerpiece of his budget proposal. Reducing the cost of living for Virginians, he argued Wednesday, requires reducing tax burdens and modernizing the state’s sales tax code.
He is calling for a 12% cut in income taxes across the board that would see the tax rate drop from 2% to 1.75% for the lowest bracket and from 5.75% to 5.1% for the highest.
“This cut reduces the personal income tax burden on Virginians by $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2025 and $2.3 billion in fiscal year 2026 and is a major, major step towards competing,” Youngkin said. “The data is clear: Since 2021, 26 states have cut individual income tax rates.”
To partly offset that loss in state revenues, the governor is proposing to increase the state’s sales and use tax from 4.3% to 5.2%, as well as expand the base of goods and services that tax applies to.
“Virginia taxes a narrow set of goods while our peer states tax a broader set of goods and services,” said Youngkin. To remedy that, he is asking the state to close what he called the “Big Tech tax loophole” on digital goods such as software packages, digital downloads, streaming services and more, “on which today, Virginia collects nothing.”
Democrats have already pushed back against the tax changes. In a statement, Scott said Virginia “must champion policies that address the pressing issues faced by our citizens – not those that would be detrimental to the financial well-being of low-income and middle class households, exacerbating economic disparities. By lowering taxes for the wealthiest Virginians and raising local and state sales tax, the burden is shifted onto those least able to afford it.”
Asked about those concerns, Youngkin said he was “very cognizant” of them, “and that’s why we included an increase in the earned income tax credit, so that in fact there would be support for Virginians who are on the lower-income scale.”
Under the governor’s plan, lower-income residents would be able to claim an enhanced earned income tax credit equal to 25% of the federal credit, rather than the existing 20% credit.
“We can reduce the tax burden and include a very important tax reform, which is shifting the burden of personal income taxes onto a sales tax system that is truly outdated and archaic,” he said.
Car tax
While not included in his budget plan, the governor urged lawmakers to work to permanently eliminate the car tax local governments are currently allowed to levy and instead have localities rely on further increases in sales tax.
“Everywhere I go, I consistently hear, ‘Please help us get rid of the car tax,’” he told reporters. “We need to work together to get rid of this.”
Outgoing Sen. John Edwards, D-Roanoke, noted the commonwealth spends almost $1 billion annually to reduce the car tax in localities and asked whether getting rid of the tax would require a constitutional amendment.
“The [Virginia] Constitution gives the car tax to the localities,” he said. “So how’s [he] going to do that, to abolish the car tax?”
Cummings said eliminating the tax would require a complex process and “a lot of changes and legislation.”
After his presentation, Youngkin told reporters, “I believe we would not eliminate the state subsidy of $950 million a year, that we can work in collaboration with local governments to settle on an increase in local and state sales and use taxes.”
Continued increases in education spending
Over the next biennium, Youngkin is proposing an additional $764 million for Virginia’s K-12 schools, including $160 million for re-benchmarking — the process of updating the amounts the state provides in direct aid to schools — $122 million to cover another 2% raise for teachers in fiscal year 2026 and $53 million for a 1% bonus in fiscal year 2025.
Youngkin also proposed investing $61 million to expand the hiring of reading specialists, $40 million to support students seeking industry-recognized credentials through “Diploma Plus” grants and $40 million to develop a new state assessment system.
More behavioral health investments
Youngkin is proposing $316 million in the budget for his “Right Help, Right Now” plan to further expand access to behavioral and mental health services across the commonwealth. This includes over $150 million to add additional developmental disability waivers, which fund services for people with long-term care needs. The governor’s plan aims to provide waivers to the 3,400 Virginians currently on the “priority one” waitlist — consisting of those individuals who urgently need the services and support offered by the waiver in a year or less.
“This is going to be a big initiative, but with the providers out there seeing this money is there, I think we can generate the kind of infrastructure we need to help address this important area,” said Virginia Department of Planning and Budget Director Michael Maul.
Over $35 million will go toward funding additional crisis services, like Virginia’s 988 suicide and crisis system and crisis stabilization units, to minimize response services that rely on emergency rooms and hospitals.
An additional $58 million is being invested in behavioral health loan repayment, more clinical training sites and residency slots and salary increases for state hospital clinicians. A new JLARC report this month found Virginia’s nine psychiatric hospitals are increasingly short on both beds and staff, which poses risks for both patients and personnel.
When it comes to hiring, “we are competing with McDonalds and Starbucks,” Maul said, “and it’s hard sometimes to get the people we need.”
Medicaid spending
The budget includes $714 million to fund the cost of Medicaid while adjusting for inflation.
Maul said this biennial budget includes significantly more money than the previous two-year spending plan because the state’s Health Care Fund, which is sourced from tobacco taxes, has less money to cover Medicaid costs than it did in prior years.
During COVID, Maul said Medicaid enrollees “weren’t going to their doctors or getting their checkups,” so Virginia spent less to pay for providers than what was initially budgeted. Now, he said, the state is expecting a significant rise in utilization.
“We’re not expecting very big amounts to go into the Health Care Fund, and tobacco tax revenues are going down,” Maul said. “We believe we’re going to need over $250 million a year to help offset the fact that those funds will not be available to help with Medicaid.”
Child care
The Building Blocks for Virginia Families initiative, announced by Youngkin earlier this month, would put $437 million toward child care and early childhood education programs in an effort to keep child care accessible to families struggling to shoulder its high costs.
Wednesday’s proposal is $10 million less than the governor previously outlined but would put $412 million toward the state child care subsidy program and $25 million to help with startup costs for providers in areas that lack child care services.
“We were using a big chunk of one-time funding, of public funding, to help subsidize the cost for child care,” said Maul. “That’s one of our biggest economic development issues, because if workers can’t find child care, they can’t get to work.”
A state report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission recently found that child care is unaffordable for the vast majority of Virginians.
“The whole goal is to make sure that anybody in the program today and those who would likely be in the program can continue to do so in the next biennium,” said Maul.
No new increases for Metro
Despite Metro’s threats of potential service cuts and fare increases in response to a $750 million shortfall, the governor’s budget includes no additional funding for the bus and rail operator above the state’s normal allocation.
Youngkin said before any funding is appropriated, a plan must be created to address the change in ridership and demand for services.
A view of the Tysons Corner Metrorail Station in Fairfax County. (Nathaniel Cline/Virginia Mercury)
“I am a huge supporter of Metro,” Youngkin said after his presentation. “It is critically important to Virginia and the entire DMV. But we need to face reality here and develop a business plan that works for Virginia, for the District and for Maryland, and then we will talk about what we will do in order to support it.”
Metro said Virginia’s proposed contribution for fiscal year 2025 is $347.9 million.
Metro said it needs notification of what the neighboring jurisdictions will provide by mid-March to make any budget adjustments.
Photo via Virginia House of Delegates/Flickr. This article was reported and written by Sarah Vogelsong, Nathaniel Cline, Charlie Paullin and Meghan McIntyre for the Virginia Mercury, and has been reprinted under a Creative Commons license, with some edits for length.
Report Recommends Options for Closing Metro Funding Gap — “The report, issued Tuesday by a working group of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, suggests boosting local jurisdictions’ collective subsidies to Metro by as much as $462 million, plus various additional compromise measures.” Suggestions include fare increases and “targeted service reductions” that could be less drastic than the partial Silver Line closure proposed by WMATA. [Washington Business Journal]
Three Arrested for Theft and Fraud at Tysons Clothing Store — “The Tysons Urban Team (TUT) detectives arrested a crew believed to be responsible for multiple fraudulent transactions and recovered property belonging to U.S. Postal Service (USPS). At 2:14 p.m. on December 15, detectives responded to the Diesel store in the McLean area for a suspicious person call. A store employee recognized several suspects from a fraudulent purchase that was made a few weeks prior.” [FCPD]
Winter Lights Festival Returns to Reston Lake — “Residents on Lake Thoreau decorate their lake-facing homes and boats with lights, and generous Restonians pledge to make donations to local nonprofits…Lake Thoreau residents that want to participate should have their boats and homes lit on Thursday, Dec. 21 for the official count, weather permitting.” [Reston Letter]
FCPS Sticks With Employee Health Insurance Provider — “Employees and retirees of Fairfax County Public Schools got a Christmas present — or perhaps better put, a New Year’s Day present — their counterparts [in] one locality to the east did not.” At a Dec. 14 meeting, the school board approved a renewal of an agreement with Kaiser Permanente “to provide health services to about 5,550 FCPS employees and retirees and their 4,921 dependents.” [Gazette Leader]
Vegetarian Vietnamese Restaurant Opens in Lake Barcroft — “There’s a new dining option for vegetarians — Chay, a Vietnamese vegetarian restaurant in Barcroft Plaza, had a soft opening on Dec. 18. It’s located at 6351 Columbia Pike next to Jake’s Ice Cream.” The owners say permitting “took forever” but they’re now glad to “offer healthy alternatives.” [Annandale Today]
Affordable Housing Waitlists Open Next Month — “Those interested in applying to affordable housing waitlists have the opportunity to do so beginning Monday, January 8, 2024, at 8:00 a.m. through Sunday, January 14, 2024, at 11:59 p.m. for select properties,” including two-bedroom apartments at One University in Fairfax and studio units at Audubon Apartments in Hybla Valley. [FCRHA]
Christmas Trees Still Available at Reston Market — “If you’re still in need of a live Christmas tree, there are plenty to choose from at the Reston Farm Garden Market. Bonita Weinstein, co-owner of the Reston Farm Garden Market, joined Eileen in-studio to talk about all they offer during the holiday season and beyond.” [WJLA]
FCPD Offers Inside Look at SWAT Team — “The FCPD’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team of our Special Operations Division has been handling high-risk and critical incidents for nearly 50 years.” The team was originally created as a part-time unit in 1975 “in response to the high-profile relocation of the Exxon Headquarters to Fairfax” and has since become one of only two full-time teams in Northern Virginia. [FCPD]
It’s Thursday — Expect a sunny day with temperatures reaching up to 46°F, accompanied by a north wind at around 7 mph. As for Thursday night, the skies will be mostly cloudy, experiencing a low of around 30°F, while the north wind will continue at a speed of 3 to 5 mph. [Weather.gov]
Escape Room Herndon is venturing into new territory as it prepares to open an expansion of its existing space in Herndon Centre.
Omer Aru, the owner of the business, says the location on Elden Street is expected to open sometime around Jan. 1.
The new space had previously been expected to open this past fall, but Aru says it took more time than expected to receive the necessary approvals from Fairfax County for the expansion. Building the game itself also took several months.
“We expected it to take about 4-5 months, but we thought we would have gotten started in early summer,” Aru told FFXnow. “Instead, it wasn’t until late August that we started building the game. All our props are custom-made by our very small team, so those take time as well.”
The game “Cryptid Grove” is based on various “wonderful creatures of lore,” according to Aru.
“The players will get to explore a gift shop for Cryptids situated inside a national park created just for these creatures to relax and be themselves,” he said. “It will be a fun light-hearted game good for all adventures young and old.”
The new room is just a few doors down from Escape Room Herndon’s current location at 406 Elden Street. Current rooms include an 8-bit Escape, Maritime Mutiny, Magician’s Workshop, and The Grave Robber’s Dilemma.
While Herndon is its flagship location, the company also has escape rooms in Richmond and Arlington.
For the first time in over four decades, Fairfax County’s police officers and firefighters got an opportunity this year to negotiate their pay, benefits and working conditions with the local government.
The collective bargaining process led to new contracts for Fairfax County Police Department and the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department employees that union representatives and county leaders both lauded as meaningful wins for public safety workers.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted 9-1 on Dec. 5 to approve the agreements with the Fairfax chapter of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association (SSPBA) and the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF) Local 2068, committing the board to making a “good faith” effort to funding the pay increases and other contractual obligations in the county’s next budget.
Set to retire at the end of this year, Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross called the collective bargaining agreements “the heaviest lift” of her 28 years as chair of the board’s personnel committee. Though there was interest in letting employees negotiate their contracts when she was first elected, Virginia didn’t give localities that authority until 2021.
“It took seven terms to get us there and a change in the General Assembly,” Gross said. “But I am very pleased we are where we are…I think we are now in a place where we will be able to move forward with our employees, especially for our [public] safety and firefighters, and this is a nice note to go out.”
What’s in the contracts
Gross and Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay credited IAFF Local 2068 as an early advocate for collective bargaining. The board approved an ordinance in October 2021 that gave police, firefighters and general county employees the ability to negotiate their contracts through a union, an option that Fairfax County Public Schools workers also secured this past March.
Key provisions of the Local 2068 agreement include a new pay plan with a higher starting salary and annual raises for the first 25 years of service, pay for training, an additional period of light duty for workers after a pregnancy and a pay incentive for higher education, according to IAFF Local 2068 President Robert Young.
The contract also lets the union create a committee to review and make recommendations on insurance coverage, and both parties agreed to form a Joint Labor Management Committee to recommend future contract changes — potentially including reduced work hours for FCFRD workers who go into the field. A study to determine the cost and a timeline for a reduction must be completed by Jan. 1, 2026.
“We believe that this contract will be a solid foundation for future negotiations and give us the ability to collaborate to resolve future issues,” Young said in a statement. “…We were able to forecast some future needs like work hours and some of our vendors for benefits.”
Young said he’s confident that the contract’s financial components will be funded in the fiscal year 2025 budget, which will start on July 1, after the county and union negotiators “spent several months working to deliver a contract that was fiscally responsible and resolved some of the issues our members faced.”
Ratified by union members on Nov. 8, the contract will be in effect from July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2027. In addition to firefighters, medics, mechanics and other FCFRD personnel, it covers 911 call takers and dispatchers in the Department of Public Safety Communications.
On the police side, the SSPBA announced that its contract will increase officer pay by 12% over the next three fiscal years, provide “more equitable access” to leave and a more “streamlined” grievance process that includes the right of employees under investigation to be accompanied by a union steward.
Covering the same time frame as the IAFF agreement, the contract was ratified by SSPBA members on Nov. 9.
“This is a big win for police officers and will ultimately help Fairfax County as a whole,” said Will Thetford, a senior associate attorney with Simms Showers, which provided legal counsel to SSPBA. “It ensures fair pay and fair treatment for Fairfax’s police officers. It is our hope that this agreement will help the County recruit and retain good officers and ultimately serve both the officers and the citizens that they serve.”
At the board meeting, Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik said she was glad to see the contracts include support for physical and mental health and wellness services, calling the vote a “historic moment.”
Contracts will have impact on county budget
Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity was the lone downvote for both agreements, despite his past advocacy for increased public safety pay. The board’s sole Republican, Herrity expressed support for many of the provisions, including on compensation, but took issue with the board’s lack of input on the county’s objectives during collective bargaining.
“I don’t know if that’s a good way to manage, to turn it over to staff and let them hammer it out with our public safety officials without board input or report back to the board on what’s in here and what’s not,” Herrity said.
Observing that Herrity regularly votes against adopting the county’s annual budgets, McKay and Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw argued that the goal of collective bargaining is to give employees an opportunity to advocate for themselves.
“The point was to get the public safety folks at the table, to hear from them and not the politicians who try to speak for them, which unfortunately happens on this dais and most of the time is not right,” McKay said.
The county’s first public-sector collective bargaining agreements since the Virginia Supreme Court let a ban take effect in 1977 come at a time when the local government is bracing for budget constraints. County Executive Bryan Hill will release his proposal for fiscal year 2025 on Feb. 20.
According to county staff, the IAFF agreement will cost $54.4 million over three years, including $24.7 million in its first year. The total fiscal impact for SSPBA agreement will be $67.5 million, including $33 million for the first year.
Walkinshaw noted that the county “would’ve incurred a lot of those costs with or without” collective bargaining, since it reviews compensation, staffing and other components every budget cycle.
General county employees and FCPS employees have yet to hold elections to determine their bargaining representatives, so their future contracts aren’t expected to be in place in time to affect the next budget.
A decision on the proposed redevelopment of two linked office buildings on Worldgate Drive in Herndon is going to wait until January.
At a meeting on Monday (Dec. 18), the Herndon Planning Commission voted unanimously to defer the decision on whether to recommend approval of plans to redevelop 13100 and 13150 Worldgate Drive into a residential community with a 360-unit apartment building, 49 standard townhouses and 52 units of stacked townhouses.
“We take the responsibility of being the gateway to the Town of Herndon seriously,” said Shawn Sullivan, who represented the developer, Boston Properties, at the public hearing.
Staff said they needed more time to work with the applicant on specific issues, like the design of Worldgate Drive’s westbound entrance, a trail connection into Chandon Park, improvements to the pedestrian circulation throughout the development and the design of a bus stop along Worldgate.
The developer plans to repurpose an existing parking garage for parking. In response to concerns about a request to reduce parking to 1.42 spaces per multi-family unit, staff said that amount of parking appeared sufficient based on a parking study of neighboring and comparable developments completed by Boston Properties.
Sullivan said the parking garage has a buffer of between 70 to 80 parking spaces that would be more than enough for guest parking.
“It doesn’t serve us to under-park our clientele,” Sullivan said.
Bryce Perry, a deputy director of community development for the town, told the commission that the town’s existing parking rate for its more transit-oriented areas is lower than what the developer is providing.
He noted that maintaining the town’s current parking requirements in more transit-oriented areas is difficult to implement.
“In a site like this with the smaller lots…especially with the multi-family [housing] the way it’s designed, that approach is a challenge to maintain,” Perry said.
After the planning commission completes an advisory review, the application will go to the Herndon Town Council for its consideration. The proposed development requires rezoning the approximately 10-acre site.
