The Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office has 71 vacancies. There are over 200 vacancies at the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board. And that’s not all.
Staff vacancies continue to be a challenge at county agencies across the board, administrators and employee leaders told the Board of Supervisors at budget hearings last week.
It’s been a turbulent couple of years for air travel.
For more than a year, face masks have been a required accessory for flyers due to COVID-19. That ended Monday (April 18) when a federal court ruled against the Biden administration’s mask mandate for public transportation.
While Fairfax County regularly makes headlines for its diversion initiatives and other criminal justice reform efforts, an imbalance in funding for prosecutors and defense attorneys remains unaddressed, the local public defender’s office says.
Dawn Butorac, the county’s chief public defender, said her office’s 25 attorney positions are around half the number of lawyers that Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano’s office has, and that gap is only going to worsen if a proposed county budget is adopted without changes this May.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin visited Google’s Reston Station office today (Tuesday) to help the company share its plans to continue building up Virginia’s technology industry.
Flanked by public officials at a media event, Google executive Vint Cerf announced it will invest over $300 million in Virginia this year.
Fairfax County plans to reduce service on some bus routes due to budget constraints, even as a program allowing free transfers to and from Metrorail could become permanent.
On the Newington Circulator (Route 334), Fairfax Connector has proposed reducing weekday service from every 30 minutes to rush hours and a single mid-day trip.
While Fairfax County’s goal of creating 10,000 affordable housing units by 2034 is laudable, ambition alone will not address all of the county’s existing needs, residents and housing advocates say.
Affordable housing groups, residents, and other community members raised issues at budget hearings last week with how the county is seeking to address gaps in affordable housing. Many called for funding increases, a request that will have to be balanced with potentially competing priorities, such as property tax relief.
The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority wants the public’s input on more than two dozen projects that could drastically change travel in the region.
The projects cover a six-year funding span and involve over $1.2 billion in requests, though the authority acknowledged it’s not immediately clear how much funding will be available.
Environmental advocates say Fairfax County’s government, residents, and businesses need to drastically accelerate their efforts to go green.
During budget hearings last week, speakers urged the county to increase its funding for environmental initiatives and recommended adopting electric vehicle rebates — which the state hasn’t been funding — as well as zero energy buildings and other measures.
Whenever the planned I-66 Trail is unveiled, it might have some glaring gaps in Fairfax County.
For a second time, the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission has opted not to recommend funding for the county’s planned 1-mile segment of trail from the Vienna Metro station near Nutley Street to Blake Lane in Oakton.
Fairfax County government employees called on the Board of Supervisors to support workers with its new budget amid staff retention issues and financial pressures.
Union representatives discussed the impact of inflation and rising housing and health care costs on their members’ ability to live where they work during public hearings this week on the proposed $4.8 billion budget.
