Vienna leaders are taking a breather, both on plans to build an aquatics and fitness center on the currently vacant Annex property and on the possibility of reversing a meals tax increase primarily intended to fund that facility.
After about 40 minutes of debate, the Vienna Town Council voted 5-2 on Monday (July 6) to schedule a public hearing for Feb. 22, 2027 on whether the town should reduce its meals tax rate from 4% to 3%.
Councilmembers Roy Baldwin and Jessica Ramakis initially advocated for holding a hearing on Sept. 14, indicating that they feel obligated to follow through on earlier promises to consider a reduction after the swimming pool project was put on hold.
“September 14 seems to be a good time, because people will be back. Schools will be back in session, and I think it’s just enough time for people to get informed on the issue and let us know what they feel in a reasonable and orderly, routine sort of fashion,” Baldwin said.
Other council members, however, contended that a September hearing would be “premature,” given that it hasn’t even been a full year since the higher rate took effect on Jan. 1.
“I would give it at least a year with the tax to see the impact on businesses, see the impact to the budget,” Councilmember Dann Nash said, noting that he wasn’t on the council when the rate increase was adopted last August.
Collected from all prepared food and beverage sales, revenue from Vienna’s meals tax helps fund debt service that enables the town to borrow money through regular bond sales, which then pays for capital improvement projects, from technology upgrades to sewer maintenance and park renovations.
According to Councilmember Doug Francis, who was elected for the first time last November like Nash, the amounts of town’s general obligation bond issuances keep increasing, reflecting the myriad projects on the town’s plate and the mounting costs of getting them done.
As of the end of June 2025, the town had spent or allocated about $6.5 million of the $8.5 million provided by bonds issued in 2022 through 2024, per its capital improvement plan (CIP) for fiscal years 2026-2042. The funding includes $10,000 reserved for the aquatics facility, which officials began seriously discussing as a possible long-term use for the former Faith Baptist Church property (301 Center Street South) in fall 2024.
Projects on deck for the $8.5 million bond planned for 2026 include a refurbishment of Southside Park’s ballfields, concrete infrastructure repairs, interior renovations for town hall, police in-car and body-worn cameras, and more.
“Coming up, we’re going to have to fund a lot of these things that are in there, but we already have an obligation to pay those debts,” Francis said at Monday’s council meeting. “So, we do need to see and make sure we have enough revenue.”
Acquired by the Town of Vienna for $5.5 million in 2020 to host a temporary police station, the property now known as the Annex has been vacant since the former church building was demolished in spring 2024. Based on community feedback that favored recreational amenities, a consultant recommended to the town council in October 2024 that the approximately 3-acre site be turned into an indoor pool and fitness center.
Vienna officials then proposed accelerating the facility’s development by temporarily increasing the meals tax rate by 1% with the goal of opening by 2030. The town initially indicated that the hike would end after 10 years, when it was expected to have generated enough revenue to fund the project.
But when the town council ultimately voted 6-1 last August to raise the rate to 4%, matching Fairfax County’s newly adopted meals tax, it chose to direct the resulting revenue into the general capital projects fund — rather than allocating it specifically to the aquatics center — and narrowly rejected an amendment from Ramakis that would’ve set a 10-year deadline for eliminating the increase.
Aquatics center put on hold
At a February work session to discuss hiring a project manager, which would’ve been funded by a $3 million advance offered by Navy Federal Credit Union, the town’s biggest employer, some council members expressed qualms about the cost and urgency of an aquatics and fitness center compared to other needs.
The emergence of a vocal opposition to the project as a “small pool, big cost,” as trumpeted by the campaign’s yard signs, convinced town leaders to put the endeavor on the backburner.
“I think it is dividing our town, and I do not like to see division in our town,” Mayor Linda Colbert said in an April 10 video announcing the halt. “I also see that we don’t have full support on the town council, and a project this big needs full support of the town council and support of our town, and so, for these reasons, I think it’s time to pause.”
In her announcement, the mayor added that she would ask the town council to bring the meals tax rate back down to 3%.
At Monday’s meeting, Colbert, Baldwin and Ramakis indicated clear support for lowering the tax rate, while others argued the town should have more concrete data on the increased tax rate’s impact on local restaurants as well as its implications for the annual budget before inviting public input.
Councilmember Chuck Anderson proposed postponing a public hearing indefinitely.
“I’m always open to having the public discuss these issues, but I’m also aware of the fact that a lot has changed since the proposal to increase the tax from 3% to 4% was first mentioned, not the least of which is Fairfax County put on a meals tax of 4%,” he said. “One of the most difficult things, I think, about being an elected official is recognizing when essentially the landscape has changed, and the landscape has changed from the time we first started considering this.”
Ramakis, however, feared an indefinite postponement would “close the conversation.”
The council eventually landed on Feb. 22 as the hearing date, since meals taxes from December 2026 are due Jan. 20, 2027, and Vienna Director of Finance Steven Barlow said he would need at least two weeks to process the resulting data, which would give officials a full year under the higher rate.
Anderson and Councilmember Howard Springsteen voted against scheduling a public hearing.
If the meals tax rate is lowered, it wouldn’t preclude the town from pursuing the aquatics and fitness center in the future, Colbert told FFXnow.
“It still could happen, but also something else could happen,” she said by phone, pointing to improving the town’s cell service and exploring a proposed park on the late mayor Charles and council member Maud Robinson’s former home as two current priorities.
Since no funds have been officially transferred to the town, the suspension of the pool project didn’t create any issues with the Navy Federal deal, according to Town of Vienna spokesperson Karen Thayer.
“Navy Federal has indicated to the Town that it will honor the advance agreement whenever a decision is made to move forward with the project,” Thayer said.
