Fairfax County is continuing its recent push to trim costs, pursuing budget cuts that are less drastic than the ones proposed last year but could still result in some notable programming changes.
Released on Feb. 17, County Executive Bryan Hill’s advertised fiscal year 2027 budget plan would reduce spending by $32.9 million and eliminate 107 positions, bringing the total amount of cuts since FY 2024 up to $124.5 million.
While that seems negligible for a county whose proposed budget totals $5.98 billion, the belt-tightening has still required some “difficult choices,” Hill noted in a message to the Board of Supervisors.
Last year, for instance, he proposed $59.8 million in reductions — the most since the county slashed $90 million after the 2008 recession. The Board of Supervisors ended up restoring over $8 million of those cuts, but some community services — such as the police department’s car seat inspections — were still lost, and Fairfax County Public Schools had to cut back on promised employee raises, among other needs, after getting less funding than it requested.
The proposed FY 2027 budget, which would take effect on July 1, again leaves a gap in funding for FCPS and limits support for new initiatives or program expansions. Instead, Hill said some of the proposed cuts will allow for reinvestments in deferred building maintenance and information technology infrastructure.
“Following the Great Recession, baseline funding for capital renewal and IT was largely eliminated, forcing reliance on one-time funding at quarterly reviews,” Hill wrote. “While this approach has allowed the County to manage for many years, it is not sustainable. The FY 2027 proposal begins rebuilding baseline funding for these essential needs.”
The Fairfax County chapter of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Virginia 512, which now represents all general county government workers, expressed cautious optimism about the overall budget proposal, noting that it fully funds the collective bargaining agreement its members ratified last year.
The first labor contact secured for county employees since the 1970s, the agreement includes raises ranging from 9% to 16% over its three-year span, annual cost-of-living adjustments, preservation of the county’s existing telework policy, two additional floating holidays, and a health insurance premium freeze, among other protections.
“Having a fully funded collective bargaining agreement in place going into budget season provides stability and certainty — not just for workers, but for the county as a whole,” Fairfax County Government Employees Union chair Tammie Wondong said in a statement to FFXnow. “With a contract in place, workers know their raises, benefits, and protections are secure, and residents can count on a stable workforce delivering high-quality public services.”
However, the union is concerned about how the proposed cuts will affect workers and the services they provide. While some of the targeted positions are currently vacant, their elimination could leave remaining staff with increased workloads and no promise of relief.
“Because we have a collective bargaining agreement, we are prepared to work with the county to ensure affected employees are treated fairly during this transition,” Wondong said.
On top of the previously reported changes to the Fairfax County Police Department’s school crossing guard program, which will drop high schools and use contractors to fill vacancies, here are some of the cuts on the table for FY 2027.
Consolidation of police oversight agencies
Hill’s budget plan would create a new Office of Police Accountability that combines the Office of the Independent Police Auditor and Police Civilian Review Panel, roles that were established in 2016 to provide some oversight of the FCPD in the wake of the fatal shooting of Springfield resident John Geer by a police officer in 2013.
Appointed as the county’s first independent police auditor in February 2017, Schott’s office is charged with reviewing police investigations of in-custody deaths and uses of force, including shootings, where someone is killed or seriously injured. The civilian review panel reviews public complaints alleging abuses of authority and serious misconduct by police outside of use-of-force cases.
Since it was approved by the Board of Supervisors in December 2016, the civilian review panel has faced some organizational upheaval, with an executive director hired in 2022 resigning in July 2023. The county decided to replace that position with a liaison to the board in 2024.
Anticipating savings of $65,956, the county says consolidating the auditor and panel under one office will make it easier for them to coordinate and share resources, while reducing “administrative duplication” and providing “a clearer, more accessible framework” for engaging the community.
No changes to the auditor or panel’s duties are expected, though the civilian review panel has advocated for an expansion of its authority in the past. But Schott believes the consolidation “will only enhance oversight efforts in the County.”
“The two offices have always worked closely together, and bringing them together under one Director will not change the missions of the two oversight entities, but will create more efficiency and cost savings,” Schott told FFXnow, adding that he and civilian review panel liaison Craig Miles were both consulted about the proposal before Hill presented his budget plan.
Miles, who has a background in law enforcement and teaches criminal justice classes at George Mason University, similarly expressed support for the change. He noted that he wasn’t speaking on behalf of the panel as a whole, since they hadn’t discussed the proposal at a meeting yet. The panel was scheduled to meet for March last night (Thursday).
“As the Liaison for the Panel, I think the consolidation will make oversight in the County more efficient,” Miles said by email. “The Panel and the Auditor often receive complaints that overlap. The Office of the Police Civilian Review Panel has already partnered with the Office of the Independent Police Auditor to develop one online complaint form for both offices. We often work and train together.”
No more support for teen drop-in sites
Among the programs slated for elimination are the drop-in sites currently offered to teens at the Glasgow, Herndon, Irving, Key, Langston Hughes, Rocky Run and South County middle schools and at the Graham Road Community Building in West Falls Church.
Open to students in grades 7 through 12, the drop-in sites are intended to give teens a “safe place to socialize” and engage in recreational activities outside school hours.
With attendance declining to an average of 15 participants at one location on a given night, the Department of Neighborhood and Community Services (NCS) plans to instead provide transportation to and from its Reston, South County, James Lee and Mott teen centers as alternatives for drop-in site participants.
Eliminating the drop-in sites will result in a $164,669 reduction in spending. That takes into account the funding for transportation, which won’t be affected by the proposed reductions, an NCS spokesperson told FFXnow.
“Despite difficult decisions proposed in the FY2027 Advertised Budget, NCS is committed to ensuring equitable access to our programs and services for youth across in Fairfax County,” the spokesperson said by email.
Hill’s budget also proposes cutting a $32,300 contribution to the Town of Vienna for its Club Phoenix Teen Center, which has offered free after-school programming to middle and high school students for more than 25 years. Activities range from games and movie screenings to volunteer projects and “odd jobs” assistance.
“The Town is disappointed by the proposed elimination of County funding for the Town of Vienna Teen Center,” Vienna Mayor Linda Colbert said. “The center, Club Phoenix, plays a vital role in supporting our community’s young people during an important stage of their lives, and it provides a safe, welcoming space for them to connect, grow, and develop social skills. Losing this funding would have a direct impact on the program.”
Colbert didn’t address whether the town will compensate for the lost county funding with its own FY 2027 budget, which hasn’t been presented yet. According to a town spokesperson, Vienna allocated $139,510 to the teen center for fiscal year 2026, covering staffing, materials, furniture replacements and other costs.
Some community center programming eliminated
Under the proposed budget, NCS would stop providing programs and services at the Huntington and David R. Pinn community centers, turning instead to “community partners” that might be “interested in providing programming and activities” at those locations.
“Huntington and Pinn Community Centers were identified as potential reductions because both of these facilities experience low utilization and attendance when compared to other NCS facilities,” the NCS spokesperson said. “Shifting these locations to partner-lead programming allows NCS to better align resources with program demand while still supporting the unique needs of that community.”
According to budget documents, the Pinn Community Center in Burke (10225 Zion Drive) has drawn fewer than 3,000 daily participants each year since FY 2023, while the Huntington Community Center (5751 Liberty Drive) averaged 4,600 participants per day between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025.
The county notes that similar services are available at the Mott Community Center, which is about 5 miles away from Pinn, and the Gum Springs and Hybla Valley centers, which are in southeastern Fairfax like the Huntington center. However, “walkability to these centers will be an issue,” the budget says.
A reorganization of the management at co-located community and senior centers would eliminate another five positions and $458,500 by having just one director to oversee each facility, rather than two separate directors for senior programs and youth/family programs.
Fees for middle school after school programs, employee child care
In addition to reducing spending by $1.7 million and cutting 18 positions, the proposed NCS budget includes a combined $1.5 million increase in revenue from new fees charged for the popular Middle School After School (MSAS) program and the child care center for county employees.
Currently free of charge, the MSAS activities offered at all 26 middle and secondary schools and the Burke School are run by FCPS but funded by both the school system and NCS. Last year, staff shared a plan to start charging fees after the Board of Supervisors restored $3.9 million to continue its support for the program on the condition that NCS and FCPS identify ways to recover costs.
Starting with the 2026-2027 school year, Hill’s budget plan would impose a $300 fee for all participating students except those eligible for free or reduced-price meals, generating an estimated $1.1 million in revenue.
“Surrounding jurisdictions, including Loudoun County, Arlington County, and Prince William County charge fees for their middle school after-school programs with sliding fee scales or reduced rates available based on household income,” the budget says. “Full fees in these jurisdictions range from $50 to $123 per week.”
For the first year, the revenue would go to the county to reduce the risks for FCPS if there’s a shortfall, but it would shift to the school system in the future.
FCPS didn’t directly address the proposed MSAS fee, but a spokesperson told FFXnow that the district “remains hopeful that additional state funding will reduce our current [$43.8 million] funding gap, so we may continue to provide a world-class education to each and every one of our students.”
The county is also planning to increase fees for its Employees’ Child Care Center at the Pennino Building, which has been closed since early February due to a water pipeline break.
After facing pushback from workers and the Board of Supervisors to a plan to privatize the center, county officials are now recommending hiking the annual registration fee up from $35 to $100 and raising monthly rates “to be consistent with” other day cares near the Fairfax County Government Center:
- Infant Classroom: $2,322 (current rate is $2,016, representing a 15% increase)
- Toddler Classroom: $2,167 (a 7% increase from the current rate of $2,016)
- Early PreK: $1,978 (current rate is $1,874, representing a 6% increase)
- Preschool: $1,892 (a 17% increase from the current rate of $1,621)
The county also hopes to decrease the center’s expenses by nearly $70,000 by eliminating two vacant positions and requiring families to provide their own baby wipes and other supplies, starting on April 1 of this year.
Wondong says the Fairfax County Government Employees Union is “encouraged” to see that the county appears to be backing off its pivot to a private contractor for the child care center.
“The original proposal would have eliminated 37 county positions and shifted the program out of public hands,” she said. “Thanks to advocacy from families, educators, and SEIU Virginia 512 members, the Board of Supervisors directed staff not to move forward with contracting out the center. Keeping the ECCC county-run protects service quality, supports working parents, and ensures early childhood educators remain valued public employees.”
Reduced early voting for June primary
For the June 2027 primaries, the county has proposed opening all 15 of its satellite locations just seven days before the election. The Fairfax County Government Center would still have a 45-day early voting period.
“Standardizing each location aims to minimize voter confusion and ensure residents have access to familiar early voting locations,” the budget says.
The Fairfax County Office of Elections also expects to save approximately $146,050 by adopting a ballot-on-demand system that will let officials print out precinct-specific ballots as needed instead of pre-printing ballots.
Reduced Fairfax Connector service
The advertised budget would reduce Fairfax Connector bus service by 48,500 hours, saving around $7.3 million. Specific changes aren’t mentioned, but the plan says the reduction would come from adjustments to 13 routes identified as “low-performing,” affecting an estimated 600 passengers per day.
Last month, the Fairfax County Department of Transportation proposed changes to a number of routes, including some service reductions and two discontinuations. Those changes would take effect on June 27 if they’re approved by the Board of Supervisors.
The Board of Supervisors will hold public hearings to gather input on the proposed budget on April 14-16 before adopting a final plan on May 5.
