(Updated at 11:05 a.m.) The proposed 2024 budget has real estate taxes once again increasing for many, as home values across Fairfax County continue to rise.
At yesterday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, County Executive Bryan Hill presented his proposed fiscal year 2024 budget. The $5.1 billion budget is up $280 million from last year — an increase of about 6%, largely due to real estate taxes going up.
County Task Force Back After Assisting With Turkey Earthquake Rescues — “After an intense 11 days searching for survivors in the wreckage of collapsed buildings, members of Virginia Task Force 1 have returned home. They arrived at their base in Chantilly just before midnight on Monday, to a hero’s welcome organized by family and friends.” [WTOP]
Firefighters Tackle Brush Fires in Springfield — “As winds picked up across the DMV Tuesday evening, crews in Fairfax County dealt with several outside fires. According to a spokesperson from the Fairfax County Fire Department (FCFD), crews worked to extinguish multiple outside fires on Old Keene Mill Road near Harwood Place in West Springfield.” [WUSA9]
Opioid overdoses have been on the rise in Fairfax County since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
After declining between 2017 and 2019, overdoses increased in the Fairfax Health District from 285 in 2019 — 83 of them fatal — to at least 366 in 2022, including 63 fatalities, as of Sept. 30, according to the data dashboard that the Fairfax County Health Department launched last fall.
The high winds on Friday (Feb. 17) proved too much for public artwork installed by South Lakes High School’s STEAM club on Lake Thoreau’s spillway.
After high winds blew off several pieces of the artwork “Cerebral,” the exhibit was removed from the platform. Composed of aircraft cable, barrel swivels, wire, paint, solar panels and wood, the artwork was installed in June.
The all-affordable residential high-rises planned at Dominion Square West are officially moving forward.
During its meeting on Feb. 15, the Fairfax County Planning Commission unanimously approved the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing’s (APAH) project, which will replace parking lots currently used by auto dealerships with two 21-story buildings.
Fairfax County hopes to make use of American Rescue Plan funding to help provide housing for some of those most in need.
In a meeting of the Board of Supervisors Housing Committee last week, staff from the Department of Housing and Community Development said a tranche of federal funding could help local residents in more extreme levels of poverty than most affordable housing programs in the county assist.
The renovation of Crossfield Elementary School in Herndon is moving forward.
At a Fairfax County School Board meeting on Feb. 9, the board voted to award a $33.3 million contract to R.J. Crowley, Inc. for the project. The overall project is expected to cost $49 million.
Fairfax County is seeking public feedback to reduce the chances of future residents and visitors confusing Tysons Corner Center with Tysons Galleria, among other potential mix-ups.
The county launched a Tysons Wayfinding and Signage Survey on Feb. 14 in partnership with the Tysons Community Alliance, which formed last fall as the next-stage evolution of the nonprofit Tysons Partnership.
The Fairfax County Police Department (FCPD) is expanding the use of automated license plate reader technology across the county, despite concerns from civil rights groups.
The department will install 25 automated license plate readers (ALPRs) around Fairfax County by the spring, FCPD spokesperson Sergeant Hudson Bull confirmed to FFXnow.
Fire Danger Heightened Today — “There is an increased fire danger for Tuesday, February 21st. Outdoor burning is strongly discouraged during this time and remember to properly dispose of smoking material.” [Ready Fairfax/Twitter]
Mount Vernon School Board Rep to Retire — “Karen Corbett Sanders, the Mount Vernon District representative to the Fairfax County School Board, announced Feb. 15 that she will not be running for a third term later this year…Corbett Sanders told On the Move that her decision not to pursue a third term was difficult and one that she didn’t take lightly.” [On the MoVe]
