The last time the Fairfax City Council approved a pay raise for its members, the year was 2015. The amount was $12,000 for council members, and $13,000 for the mayor.
During a work session on Tuesday (May 12), council members unanimously agreed it’s time to raise their own salaries — potentially up to the maximum allowed by Virginia law. For cities with a population between 20,000-34,999 people, that’s up to $24,000 for mayors and $22,000 for council members.
“Cost of living adjustments have been pretty, pretty, rampant, and I think we all recognize we put in a significant number of hours as well,” said Councilmember Anthony Amos.
Councilmember Stacy Hall said that “the burden of hours and time in comparison to the paycheck” is “disproportionate,” and members should be paid enough to cover gas, child care, and other expenses that make their attendance at meetings and events possible.
“I think that people see how many hours we spend up here, and this is just the meeting part, right?” Hall said. “This isn’t the outreach to the community, the showing up at things, the preparing for the meetings. This is a much bigger job, and it’s very easy to spend at least 20 hours a week.”
“I think that the reality of service is that if you are engaged, it is time intensive. It requires sacrifice,” Councilmember Thomas Peterson said. “And I think the additional support for that is something that would probably help to attract people to these positions and help encourage the highest level of commitment.”
Under Virginia law, local elected officials are permitted to increase their own salaries, but only in the year prior to an election, with the new pay rates taking effect on July 1 of the following year after the new mayor, Board of Supervisors or council members take office.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and school board both approved raises in 2023, when all of their seats were last up for election. Those positions will be on the ballot again next year.
Fairfax City’s elected offices, including mayor and all council seats, will be on the ballot this November. Mayor Catherine Read has already announced that she won’t seek reelection, but with no primaries for city council races, which are officially nonpartisan, candidates have until June 16 to file.
Noting at Tuesday’s work session that he is not running for reelection this year “and probably not for the foreseeable future,” Councilmember Billy Bates said that for working people and students, $22,000 “can be the world’s difference compared to $12,000.”
“We want to make sure that, to the extent that we can, their financial situation is not an obstacle to running and getting involved,” he said. “So, certainly I could even see going with the maximum. [I’m] not wedded to it. But this is the most expensive part of the state and … I think that we need to see some kind of increase going forward.”
According to a staff report, Falls Church City pays its mayor and council members $17,000 and $16,000, effective July 1, while Manassas Park pays $22,000 to its mayor and $21,000 to council members. Both have smaller populations than Fairfax City. Fredericksburg, which has a similar size population, pays its mayor $13,000 and its council members $12,000.
Read agreed that a raise to the maximum level allowed by state law “is appropriate” and confirmed that appeared to be the consensus of the council.
“I think people should be compensated for the value, not just even the amount of time, which is a lot, because council members spend different amounts of time,” Read said. “It’s the value you bring. We are the government of a city, and people expect a certain amount of commitment and a certain amount of conscientiousness and to show up and do the job and do it thoughtfully.”
Staff said that an ordinance could be introduced at the June 9 meeting, with a public hearing on June 23.
If the pay raises are approved, they would take effect on July 1, 2027 at the start of fiscal year 2028. For the upcoming fiscal year 2027, the Fairfax City Council approved a budget that increased real estate, utility, meals and hotel taxes to address growing employee compensation, schools and infrastructure costs.
