2020 was the “single greatest year” for capital project execution in Reston Association’s history, outgoing RA president Julie Bitzer declared at the association’s annual members’ meeting on Tuesday (April 13).
However, a number of much-needed capital projects remain, and RA CEO Hank Lynch says the ability to fund them is “primarily my biggest concern” for the next five to 10 years.
Despite delays and shortages related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Reston Association managed to finish 85 of its 121 ongoing capital projects this past year — 70% completion rate.
The projects included Lake Anne dock upgrades and work at a number of Reston pools. RA also started renovating the Hook Road tennis court and making trash rack repairs at Lake Audubon.
There are 13 active projects, and 28 projects will be completed this coming year, according to the map available on RA’s website.
Lynch specifically cited the Hook Road tennis court renovations and the Lake Thoreau Pool project, which is expected to enter the construction phase in the fall, as “taking up a significant amount of capital work.”
$3.8 million was spent on all projects this past year, and $3.6 million is being budgeted for this coming year, Bitzer said.
Back in March 2020, a newly re-established recreational board facilities working group determined that a number of decades-old facilities were still in need of work.
“We have aging amenities…About half of [the swimming pools] are more than 30 years old,” Lynch said. “As we look to the next five to 10 years, five of these pools will require major renovations.”
Lynch noted that these renovations will take multiple years and require multi-million-dollar commitments.
However, RA’s budget for taking on these big projects is lacking, and the association may need to make some hard decisions going forward.
“Our assessments have really not kept pace with our anticipated long-term spending demands that we now found ourselves facing,” Lynch said. “We are really going to have some tough choices to make when it comes to some of these larger price-tag items.”
According to the presentation at the annual meeting, a huge chunk of members’ $708 annual assessment already goes towards maintaining and improving facilities as well as providing recreation services.
58.5% of the annual assessment dues goes towards these three categories. That’s about $414 annually per member.
RA members suggested some other ways to raise revenue, such as re-starting boat and Lake House facility rentals, particularly with weddings and other big events potentially returning this coming year.
But officials made it clear that the biggest potential source of much-needed revenue would be to raise annual assessment rates again. Rates went up each of the past two years, though there was a decrease in 2017.
How to fund capital projects will be one of the top issues that RA’s new board of directors and president Caren Anton will have to address in the coming year.
“Keeping our assets and facilities in top condition remains a top priority for the board,” Bitzer said.
Photo via Youtube/Reston Association
If you’re in the market to buy a house, you’ve got options.
According to Homesnap, there are 152 homes currently for sale in Reston — 97 condos, 25 detached homes and 30 townhomes. Additionally, as of April 11, there have been 69 new listings in the past four weeks and 128 sales.
This weekend, you’ll find a number of open houses across Reston, including:
12202 Dorrance Court
3 BD/2.5 BA townhome
Listed: $989,000
Open: Sunday, 1-4 p.m.
12500 Fox View Way
4 BD/3/5 BA single-family home
Listed: $820,000
Open: Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
12079 Trumbull Way #2079-8
3 BD/2.5 BA townhome
Listed: $709,999
Open: Sunday, 2-4 p.m.
1244 Vintage Place
2 BD/3.5 BA townhome
Listed: $540,000
Open: Saturday, 12-3 p.m.
Photo via James Lee on Unsplash
It’s time for Fairfax Water’s annual flush, meaning the fire hydrants are flowing and the water might smell a little funny.
Every year, water companies flush their systems in order to clean out and remove sediment from water mains and pipes that have accumulated. This sediment occurs from internal corrosion as well as natural build-ups of iron and manganese.
It also ensures that chlorine contraction levels, which disinfect the water, remain steady since chlorine degrades in water over time.
The flush involves opening up fire hydrants and allowing water to flow freely. It may look like wasting water, but it ensures that sentiment, chlorine, and other materials are flushed out.
During this short period of time, Fairfax Water switches from using combined chlorine to free chlorine as their primary disinfectant.
Most of the year, combined chlorine — or chloramines — are used to treat drinking water. Produced by a chemical reaction between chlorine and ammonia, it’s not as effective as free chlorine in disinfecting water, but it can stay in the water longer.
Free chlorine acts faster than combined chloring to break up sediment, but degrades in a shorter period of time.
The use of free chlorine can also lead to the water tasting and smelling funny.
So, if you are taking a big gulp out of the tap and it tastes like pool water, that’s why.
If you or someone in your household is particularly sensitive to this taste and smell, storing an open container of drinking water in the refrigerator will allow the chlorine to dissipate.
Drinking water does have a shelf life, though, so it should be switched out regularly.
At the levels used in drinking water, both combined and free chlorine are considered safe by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Environmental Protection Agency .
All of this flushing began at the end of March and is expected to run until June 14 for most of Fairfax County.
Nearly 2 million people in Northern Virginia get their water from Fairfax Water, including nearly all of the county and the towns of Vienna and Herndon. It is Virginia’s largest water utility company and one of the 25 largest in the country.
Both Herndon and Vienna get their water “wholesale” from the company, meaning a third party or utility has the right to distribute water but not have the capability to treat their own water.
Herndon’s Department of Public Works does participate in the annual flush as well, opening up hydrants in both residential and commercial areas.
Fairfax Water also highly encourages commercial and residential property owners to flush their system if they’ve had to shut it down for an extended period of time during the COVID-19 pandemic. A thorough flushing is needed to clean out water that may have been sitting dormant in plumbing.
Water that remains stagnant for as little as two days can have mold, leeching, and other hazards in it that can lead to illness.
Photo via Rudy and Peter Skitterians/Pixabay
Virginia to Change Vaccine Scheduling Systems — Fairfax County residents will finally follow the same approach to obtaining COVID-19 vaccine appointments as the rest of the state, as the Virginia Department of Health says its statewide system will also be retired on Sunday (April 18) in favor of self-scheduling through Vaccine Finder. [Patch]
Lawsuit Filed over Virginia’s Unemployment Benefits — “Several legal groups filed a federal class-action suit on Thursday against the Virginia Employment Commission for its failure to reach residents with unemployment benefits, and abruptly cutting off payments to others without explanation.” [DCist]
Fish Released into Lake Thoreau — Reston Association stocked Lake Thoreau with 80 triploid grass carp this past Sunday (April 18). RA says that the fish are part of its plan to “help manage aquatic plants such as hydrilla” in the lake and must be released if caught while fishing. [RA/Twitter]
Reston Nonprofit to Give Free Food to Those in Need — Cornerstones will hold a free food distribution event tomorrow (Saturday) in the parking lot of the Fairfax County Department of Family Services building at Lake Anne (11484 Washington Plaza West). The grocery bags will contain toiletries as well as fresh produce, and they will be distributed from 10 a.m. to noon, though spaces are limited. [Lake Anne Elementary School]
Hunter Mill District Bike Tour Sold Out — Tickets for the inaugural Tour de Hunter Mill sold out yesterday. Scheduled for May 15, the event will take cyclists on a scenic tour from Reston to Vienna and back, but attendance was capped at 150 riders to ensure social distancing. [Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling/Twitter]
Fairfax County residents will soon book COVID-19 vaccine appointments through Vaccine Finder instead of the county health department, a change that officials say will “allow greater flexibility and choice of where residents receive their vaccine.”
The health department announced last night (April 14) that it will no longer manage or accept appointments through their registration system after Fairfax County moves to Phase 2 on Sunday (April 18).
The county says the new system will lead to greater access, choice, and awareness of vaccine availability as it moves to vaccinating all residents over the age of 16.
“The Open Scheduling process allows easier access to vaccine sites closer to home,” Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Jeff McKay told Reston Now in an email.
Developed by Boston Children’s Hospital, Vaccine Finder shows available doses from approved vaccine providers across the county, including the health department clinics, pharmacies, hospitals, and some private practices, according to the Fairfax County Health Department’s blog.
Information about the switch will be disseminated in a variety of ways, says county officials, including their blog posts, social media, English and Spanish text alerts, countywide mailers, flyers, news media, and working with the county’s outreach team.
While the Vaccine Finder is not available in other languages, McKay says the county will film videos in “at least 7 different languages” explaining how to use the system. They are also encouraging folks to change their web browser settings to their desired language.
Residents will also be able to contact the county and Virginia Department of Health call centers to get assistance when registering for a vaccination.
Earlier this week, the county implemented a new call center system (703-324-7404) that will assist residents in registering in the new appointment system. However, the county warns that wait times for callers could be long.
Fairfax County residents can also now call the state call center (1-877-829-4682) for help in multiple languages. McKay says this gives residents “an additional resource,” since the state previously routed calls about Fairfax County back to the county’s call center, which is still available to provide help in multiple languages.
The county health department says that it will still schedule appointments for everyone who is registered in their system and on the waitlist (i.e. individuals who were eligible for the vaccine in Phase 1) prior to the system closing at 11:59 p.m. on April 17.
They should expect to be contacted within approximately a week about scheduling their appointments.
As of 3:30 p.m. today, there are 24,059 people on the waitlist. Read More
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A Reston man pleaded guilty in federal court yesterday (Wednesday) to an elaborate identity theft and fraud scheme that included the creation of counterfeit COVID-19 stimulus checks, the Department of Justice announced.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, which prosecuted the case at the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, 38-year-old Jonathan Drew stole mail addressed to more than 150 individuals in Fairfax County between approximately December 2019 and August 2020.
He used the stolen mail — which included bank statements, credit cards, credit card statements, W-2 forms, and more than $700,000 in checks — to open bank accounts, lease an apartment, and conduct other fraudulent transactions involving counterfeit and forged checks, wire transfers, and the unauthorized use of credit cards.
Among the stolen checks was an Economic Impact Payment check sent by the IRS as part of the federal COVID-19 relief efforts. Drew used that stolen check to create counterfeit stimulus checks ranging in amount from $1,200 to $2,400. He also managed to negotiate “his own authentically issued stimulus check twice,” according to the DOJ.
Drew pleaded guilty to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. The plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga and announced by several local and federal officials, including interim Fairfax County Police Chief David Rohrer.
“We are firmly committed to holding accountable fraudsters who engage in identity theft and exploit a national economic crisis for personal gain at the expense of hardworking members of our communities,” Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Raj Parekh said.
Drew has been scheduled for sentencing on August 25. He faces up to 32 years in prison with a mandatory minimum of two years.
Time is running out for community members to weigh in on Fairfax County’s first Countywide Strategic Plan, which will serve as a template for the county government’s vision and priorities for the next two decades.
A public survey on the strategic plan will close at the end of today (Thursday), though the county plans to conduct a fourth round of community engagement this summer before the document is revised and ultimately adopted in October.
The survey is available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Urdu, and Farsi. A form for individuals to submit more general feedback can also be found at the bottom of the strategic plan website.
“We view community engagement as a process that is never complete, and strongly encourage you to see the ways the strategies within this plan will positively impact your daily lives,” County Executive Bryan Hill said in a note to the community. “We are counting on you to help us track success, as well as how we can continue to improve — this is not only a government plan, but a way to shape our collective future in a way that benefits us all.”
The effort to develop a single, cohesive plan for the county’s future launched in early 2019 with an initial round of community engagement.
Hill presented what was supposed to be a final version of the document to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Feb. 25, 2020, but the county decided to pause work on the initiative when the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in March 2020.
After the county spent a year revising the document to take into account the pandemic’s impact, Hill delivered a new proposed strategic plan to the board on Feb. 23, alongside his presentation of the county’s advertised Fiscal Year 2022 budget.
The Board of Supervisors was previously scheduled to adopt the plan in conjunction with its mark up of the budget on April 27, but county staff agreed to push the adoption date back to Oct. 5 after “several” supervisors suggested more time was needed for both the board and the public to review the plan and provide input.
“We absolutely think that this makes sense, because while we recognize that the plan was originally designed to be flexible, adaptable, and future-oriented, we also recognize that COVID is our first real test of that design,” Countywide Strategic Plan Coordinator Aimee Brobst said during a budget committee meeting on March 16. “We want to ensure that the board has adequate time to fully focus on the countywide initiative that we, of course, consider to be extremely important.”
The 56-page strategic plan currently being considered categorizes the county’s goals and strategies for achieving those goals into nine priority areas:
- Cultural and recreational opportunities
- Economic opportunity
- Effective and efficient government
- Empowerment and support for residents facing vulnerability
- Health and environment
- Housing and neighborhood livability
- Lifelong education and learning
- Mobility and transportation
- Safety and security
In his note, Hill says that the pandemic has exacerbated existing health and economic disparities in Fairfax County, while posing “significant current and future budget challenges that will require us to focus our limited resources on our top strategic priorities and most urgent community needs.”
“Now more than ever, we must intentionally align existing government and community plans and priorities to respond to the areas of greatest importance to our residents, and strategically focus our resources on these priorities over the next 5, 10, 20 years and beyond,” Hill said.
Image via Fairfax County
D.C. Region Backs Statehood for Capital — The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Board of Directors, which consists of elected officials from D.C. area governments, unanimously passed a resolution yesterday (Wednesday) urging Congress to “establish the state of Washington, D.C. without delay.” Fairfax County was represented on a task force dedicated to the issue of D.C. statehood by Lee District Supervisor Rodney Lusk. [MWCOG]
NoVA to Expand COVID-19 Vaccine Appointments — Virginia Vaccine Program Coordinator Dr. Danny Avula says that COVID-19 vaccine appointments will become more readily available in Northern Virginia “in the next couple of weeks.” Loudoun County and the City of Alexandria have already entered Phase 2, but appointments may initially become harder to schedule when localities like Fairfax County expand eligibility. [WTOP]
Bilingual Election Officers Needed for Primary — The Fairfax County Office of Elections is looking for individuals who speak English and Vietnamese or Korean to serve as election officers for the Democratic primary on June 8. The application deadline is on April 28. [Fairfax County Office of Elections/Twitter]
Reston Association Thanks Trash Clean-up Volunteers — “Many thanks to all the volunteers who took part in last Saturday’s 33rd Annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup coordinated by the Alice Ferguson Foundation. A total of 93 volunteers collected 115 bags of trash.” [RA/Twitter]
Comscore Partners with Atlas Obscura — The Reston-based media analytics company Comscore announced an agreement yesterday with the online guidebook and travel company Atlas Obscura. The deal gives Atlas Obscura access to Comscore’s data platform so that it can “better understand audience behavior and media consumption across desktop and mobile devices.” [PR Newswire/WFMZ-TV]
Photo via vantagehill/Flickr
The Fairfax County Health Department will stop accepting registrations for the COVID-19 vaccine once eligibility opens up to the general adult population on Sunday (April 18).
According to a blog post published earlier this evening, county residents will instead be directed to Vaccine Finder to find approved providers, including the county health department, pharmacies, hospitals, and private practices. They will then need to schedule appointments directly with the provider.
The county says that its current registration system enabled it to prioritize residents based on the Virginia Department of Health’s established eligibility categories, but this will no longer be necessary when appointments are open to the general population in Phase 2 and the local health department no longer provides the primary commmunity vaccination sites.
“In Phase 2, the larger pool of community vaccination sites allows us to shift to this new process, which will allow greater flexibility and choice of where residents receive their vaccine,” the FCHD says.
Created by Boston Children’s Hospital with support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Digital Service, Vaccine Finder allows users to locate clinics, pharmacies, and other sites that are providing COVID-19 vaccinations, but it does not provide appointment scheduling, which must be done through the individual provider.
Fairfax County Health Department spokesperson Jeremy Lasich tells Reston Now that the county will still be responsible for distributing vaccine supplies to its partners, and it will schedule appointments for individuals remaining on its waitlist, which has about 23,000 people left as of 8:30 p.m.
However, the county’s registration system will be retired once everyone on the waitlist has been given an appointment.
“We will continue to manage registrations for those people who are currently on our waitlist for the next week or two after April 18 until they have all received appointments and our waitlist reaches 0,” Lasich said. “We will also still manage vaccination clinics for people who sign up at one of our locations on VaccineFinder, but…we will not manage those registrations.”
Because of the need to finish vaccinating everyone on the waitlist, the health department notes that its clinics and some of its partners may not be listed on Vaccine Finder until late April or early May.
“Everyone who is on our waitlist before it closes at 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, April 17, will be contacted to schedule appointments within approximately one week,” the department said.
Photo via Fairfax County Health Department
Frying Pan Farm Park’s annual Spring Farm Day has been canceled for the second year in a row due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
The fundraiser had been scheduled to take place on May 1, but Friends of Frying Pan Farm Park, the nonprofit that supports the park, announced this morning (Wednesday) that plans have “unfortunately” changed.
Spring Farm Day’s cancellation means that the Friends group has to scramble again to raise the funds need to support the dozens of animals that live at the park in Herndon.
“We’ll lose thousands of dollars Spring Farm Day would have raised. This money would have helped feed our farm animals and support the farm,” the organization said in a Facebook post. “If you can, please make a donation to help replace our lost funding.”
Spring Farm Day typically takes place in May and offers crafts and activities, such as sheep-shearing demonstrations and encounters with the baby farm animals, that highlight the park’s role in showcasing early and mid-20th century farm life.
When the pandemic shut down the event last year, the Friends organized an online fundraiser to collect the $30,000 that the group said is required to feed, care for, and shelter the roughly 100 animals on the farm each year. The fundraiser exceeded its goal, ultimately bringing in $44,254 from 513 supporters.
Frying Pan Farm Park is operated by the Fairfax County Park Authority, but the animals are owned by the Friends group, which is responsible for covering their food, shelter, and medical care.
Both one-time and recurring donations can be made online through the Friends of Frying Pan Farm Park website.
Reston Now contacted Frying Pan Farm Park for a comment on the decision to cancel this year’s Spring Farm Day but has not heard back as of press time.
Photo via Yvonne Johnson
The Herndon Town Council has deferred action on an ordinance that would prohibit firearms on town property.
Mayor Sheila Olem announced Tuesday (April 13) at the council’s meeting that it will hold off on any action with the firearm ordinance until Town Manager Bill Ashton can come back with additional information on the subject.
Olem added the council would also like to hold an advertised public hearing on the matter so it “can gather input from our residents.”
“Following last week’s work session discussion on the item, the council’s consensus was that we should give the town manager time to analyze the budgetary impacts of this,” Olem said.
Ashton will return to the council on May 6 to present his findings during a strategic planning session.
The proposed ordinance follows initial discussions the council had in September after Virginia adopted legislation allowing localities to institute ordinances to prohibit firearms on their public property.
Herndon’s proposed ordinance falls in line with similar ordinances that have been adopted in Fairfax, Loudoun and Arlington counties, as well as in cities including Falls Church and Alexandria.
The ordinance, if passed, would prohibit the “possession, carrying, or transportation of any firearms, ammunition, or components or combination thereof” on town property.
The town property listed in Herndon’s proposed ordinance includes any building used or owned by the town, or any authority or local government entity controlled by the town for governmental purposes. The ordinance extends to public parks and recreation or community centers owned or operated by the town.
The ordinance would not to apply military personnel when acting within their official capacity, sworn or retired law enforcement officers, on duty private security hired by the town, and for educational programs or historical reenactments conducted or permitted by the town and wherein the firearms used are not loaded.
A violation of this ordinance would constitute a Class 1 misdemeanor.
Photo via Thomas Def/Unsplash
This week in Reston, there are 50 properties available to rent, according to Homesnap.
Below are five recently listed rentals:
- 11762 Arbor Glen Way — 4 BD/3.5 BA townhome — $2,950/month
- 1897 Oracle Way — 2 BD/2 BA condo — $2,580/month
- 11566 Rolling Green Court #200 — 2 BD/2 BA townhome — $1,900/month
- 1516 N. Point Drive #204 — 2 BD/1 BA condo — $1,850/mo
- 1705 Ascot Way #B — 1 BD/1 BA condo — $1,550/month
In the market? Check out the latest in Reston real estate.
Reston Association has elected two new members and re-elected one to their Board of Directors.
The board’s two open at-large seats went to Sarah Selvaraj-D’Souza, who won a second three-year term with 4,275 votes, and Timothy J. Dowling, who was elected for his first three-year term with 3,987 votes.
They both bested John Farrell by a relatively slim margin. The former RA Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee member received 3,719 votes, while 26-year-old software engineer Vincent Dory received 1,221 votes. There were 647 votes to abstain.
Voters could vote for one or two candidates on their ballots.
In the South Lakes District, Jennifer Jushchuk ran unopposed, though about 12% of the votes cast were abstentions.
The results were announced last night (April 13) at RA’s annual members’ meeting. Full results, including vote count and turnout, are publicly available.
The board candidates were announced in February. Voting opened on March 1 and closed on April 2.
RA Election Committee Chair Ed Abbott tells Reston Now that the election ran smoothly and was free of the technical glitches that cropped up last year.
“The Election Committee did not encounter any major issues in the election process,” he said by email. “The use of Zoom for the Candidate Forums and Meet and Greet Sessions went well thanks to the technical support of the RA staff and the cooperation of the candidates.”
Voter turnout also actually went up this year to about 19%, a roughly 5% increase from last year, Abbott notes.
Nonetheless, it remains low, something that the Elections Committee hopes to look into for next year.
“The Elections Committee will evaluate this year’s election process in the coming months and report to the Board of Directors,” Abbott said. “The evaluation will consider, among other things, increasing member participation, reducing costs and improving the overall election process.”
Voters could use either paper or online ballots, though nearly two-thirds of the votes came through online ballots.
The new board will select their officers at their first board meeting tonight (Wednesday). The officer positions include president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer.
Reston Association’s outgoing president Julie Bitzer was first elected to the Board in 2015 and was president for the last year.
Fairfax County’s government workers union urged the Board of Supervisors yesterday (Tuesday) to adopt a fiscal year 2022 budget that includes increased compensation for employees, whose year-long pay freeze would be prolonged if the county’s proposed budget takes effect.
The testimony came during the first of three public hearings on the advertised FY 2022 budget that have been scheduled for this week. There will also be hearings at 3 p.m. today and tomorrow (Thursday).
Service Employees International Union Virginia 512, which represents social workers, librarians, maintenance staff, and other general county government employees, says that its top priorities for the new budget are ending the pay freeze and establishing rules for collective bargaining.
“For over one year, we have worked tirelessly to keep the community running,” SEIU Virginia 512 President Tammie Wondong said. “We have done everything we can to keep Fairfax families healthy and safe, even when we have not been healthy and safe ourselves. Today, we are asking that you recognize and value county employees in this year’s budget.”
Wondong acknowledged that the county has made an effort to support employees during the COVID-19 pandemic by expanding leave options and providing hazard pay. The board is also considering offering one-time bonuses in the FY 2021 budget as part of its third-quarter review, which will be approved on April 27.
However, the union argues that that remains insufficient compensation for employees who are essential to maintaining county services but often struggle with the rising costs of housing, healthcare, and other needs.
Fairfax County Health Department employee Jenny Berkman-Parker said in a video that played during the public hearing that the most recent evidence of the ongoing pay freeze’s impact on her family came in the form of an email from her son’s university, which announced that it will raise tuition costs by 5% next year.
“I was trying to be understanding the first year. The second year is definitely more stressful,” she said. “…Now that we’re having pay freezes for two years in a row and we’ve had pay freezes in the past, my income is no longer keeping up with the cost of living.”
Fairfax County Public Schools employees would also have their pay frozen again under the advertised FY 2022 budget. The Fairfax County School Board requested a 3% pay raise for all employees, but that was not incorporated into the county’s proposal, which increases funding for the school system by just $14.1 million.
The Fairfax County Federation of Teachers, which represents all non-administrative FCPS staff, said in a press release issued on Monday (April 12) that 60% of respondents to a poll it conducted reported living paycheck to paycheck. Three out of four respondents said they have considered leaving for another school district due to the pay freeze.
“These statistics should not be the case in one of the wealthiest districts in the Commonwealth,” FCFT President Tina Williams said. “…Our district and county must do better.”
County Executive Bryan Hill’s proposed budget largely limits spending in response to the ongoing demands of the pandemic and uncertainty about the county’s future recovery.
When he presented his proposal on Feb. 23, Hill told the Board of Supervisors that it would cost more than $55 million to fund the county’s employee compensation program, including almost $30 million for a 2% market rate adjustment.
He recommended reducing the real estate tax rate by one cent to provide some relief to property owners, though rising home values mean that residents will still see a 4.25% increase in their tax assessments on average. The Board of Supervisors voted on March 9 to advertise a flat rate of $1.15 per $100 of assessed value as the ceiling for the new rate.
The question of how to support county services and workers while giving taxpayers some relief has formed the crux of the community conversation around the FY 2022 budget.
“So many folks in Fairfax County are hurting. The last thing they need is a tax increase,” said Fairfax County Republican Committee parlimentarian James Parmalee, the lone speaker at Tuesday’s public hearing on the tax rate.
Residents expressed differing points of view on whether the tax rate should be lowered at a town hall on the proposed budget hosted by Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn on March 29.
One resident, who identified herself as a county employee, said that she was disappointed at the potential extended salary freeze, while another resident worried that climbing housing values will exacerabate the county’s affordability issues.
The Board of Supervisors will mark up the budget proposal on April 27 before adopting an approved budget on May 4. Fiscal Year 2022 begins on July 1.
