By Brian Trompeter
Odds are they won’t need to implement them, given how the county’s budget process usually unfolds, but Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) officials are ready if necessary to cut the agency’s budget by up to 10 percent in fiscal 2026.
FCPA board members got their first look at the hypothetical budget reductions at their Aug. 28 meeting.
Fairfax County Executive Bryan Hill has asked every county agency to provide a list of possible budget cuts amounting to 10 percent for next year’s budget. (Hill did a similar exercise last year, seeking 7-percent cuts, FCPA officials said.)
“This is an exercise,” cautioned FCPA executive director Jai Cole. “We’re not proposing these budget cuts.”
FCPA’s $95.8 million fiscal 2025 budget consists of about $59.7 million in its revenue-and-operating fund and almost $36.1 million in its general fund.
“As I often like to say, we beg for 40 percent of our budget and we hustle for 60,” Cole said.
The proposed budget cuts pertained only to the general fund, making the target $3.56 million.
FCPA’s “non-recommended” budget reductions for fiscal 2026 could:
• Close one nature center and one historic site, which would save a total of $644,000, but eliminate popular field trips for many students. If supervisors favored such major cuts, it would be up to the FCPA board to decide which facilities got the ax.
• Save $152,548 by closing the two parking lots at Scotts Run Nature Preserve, which surely would raise hackles in McLean. This proposal would limit access to people who could walk to the park, officials said.
• Reduce from 120 to 73 (eight for each of the nine magisterial districts, excluding the children’s series) the number of shows in the agency’s Summer Entertainment Series, which would save an estimated $109,703. Mason, Mount Vernon and Sully districts would be the most affected, Cole said.
• Shave $200,000 from FCPA’s $1.27 million budget for forestry services. The Board of Supervisors increased that budget item by $890,000 this fiscal year, but FCPA still is able only to address high-risk trees, not perform preventive work, said Sara Baldwin, FCPA’s deputy director and chief operating officer.
• Cut back lawn mowing at more than 200 athletic fields from twice per week to once to save an estimated $240,823. Supervisors added $345,000 to the fiscal 2025 budget for such work.
This proposed cut “clearly would affect the playability of the fields, safety of the fields and satisfaction from community members who are using the fields,” Baldwin said.
• Save about $129,000 more by halving frequency of mowing at other parks.
• Cut $48,960 from the budget by cleaning portable toilets twice per week instead of three times, which has been the practice since the pandemic.
• Cut back athletic-court maintenance and renovations by 51 percent to save $250,000. FCPA maintains 412 courts.
• Trim maintenance on more than 300 miles’ worth of trails by $250,000, or half the current budgeted amount. Supervisors added $150,000 for trails maintenance in fiscal 2025. Trails are the agency’s most popular amenity, officials said.
• Increase deferred maintenance of park facilities to save $350,000.
• Require the Fairfax County Park Foundation to increase its fund-raising goal by $300,000 to cover the foundation’s operating expenses, or instead begin charging a 20-percent administrative fee.
• Save $65,000 by eliminating an Ecologist 1 position from FCPA’s Invasive Management Area Program, which targets invasive plant species. Officials could explore financing the position instead using stormwater-management funds.
• Eliminate a vacant Historic Resource Specialist II position in the Heritage Resources Division, saving $82,826.
• Remove a position for a part-time photographic specialist, saving $26,988. These duties could be handled by other FCPA staff, but likely result in lower-quality images, officials said.
• Switch some Development Division positions to bond funding, which would reduce by $714,000 the amount of funds available for design and construction of projects.
The FCPA Board’s budget committee will review the outlined budget proposals Sept. 11, with public comment allowed during the meeting’s second half.
On Sept. 25, the board will endorse the budget request and list of possible cuts, then submit them in October to the county’s Department of Management and Budget for review.
County Executive Hill will release his advertised budget plan next February and the Board of Supervisors is slated to approve the fiscal 2026 budget in May 2025.
