Fairfax City voters will decide in November whether to approve a general retail sales tax increase of up to 1% that could generate up to $13.5 million to fund construction projects and long-term maintenance of the city’s schools.
The Fairfax City Council voted unanimously last Tuesday (July 14) to request that the Fairfax Circuit Court order a special election on Nov. 3 asking voters whether the city should levy the tax. Long sought by the city, the ability to implement the sales tax was authorized by the General Assembly’s new state budget late last month.
While the referendum’s language grants the city authority to use the money for transportation purposes, Mayor Catherine Read noted that the city has always intended to use any funds generated exclusively for schools.
“We’ve been talking about it for years, and I don’t think our residents are going to be confused about this referendum, even if it says transportation on it,” Read said. “Because we have been very clear about what our intention was for this…I think consistency makes an enormous difference.”
Originally, the General Assembly had only considered granting authority to use the money for schools. The last-minute addition enabling Northern Virginia localities to also use the revenue for public transportation was a surprise to the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC), so it has been met with mixed reactions, said Read, who is a member of the commission’s legislative and policy committee.
“At the NVTC meeting where this was discussed at length, the supervisors from Fairfax County said that they thought there needed to be coordination in the region … before anything was done,” said Read.
“Their remarks at that public meeting — FFXnow reported on this. It’s easy to find the comments that were made by Supervisor [Walter] Alcorn and Supervisor [Jimmy] Bierman that they don’t have any intention to do anything this year, that they believe that anything that’s done should be a coordinated effort.”
As a result, Fairfax City is among the first jurisdictions in the state to pursue the referendum, joining Frederick County and Central Virginia’s Fluvanna County and Nelson County.
Middlesex County along Virginia’s middle peninsula and the City of Martinsville in the southern part of the state have also approved putting the question to voters; however, a similar effort in Washington County was tabled until December.
While the Fairfax County School Board has unanimously supported the possibility of a referendum, it’s unclear if there’s enough support among supervisors to get the question on the ballot.
Fairfax City’s school board also passed a resolution on July 1 expressing its support for the tax and asking the council to initiate a referendum.
Council members seemed to agree that education funding would be prioritized, without ruling out entirely the idea of allocating revenue for other purposes.
Councilmember Thomas Peterson said that while the measure “opens the door to additional funds for transportation,” he would prioritize school renovation and construction. Any use toward transportation would “need to be very intentional” and “not be reactive.”
Peterson also noted during a discussion with a staff member that the funds from a sales tax could be used to pay off bonds voters approved in 2024 to improve city schools — meaning the city might not need to rely on real estate taxes for that purpose.
Councilmember Stacy Hall said she “would be open to a resolution from this council, if this were to pass, that would allow us to only use it for schools for, let’s say, the first 10 years.”
Even if voters approve the measure, the city council would still have to vote on implementing the tax. That council could look very different next year, with some members not returning and others vying for reelection this November.
