Fairfax County officials have started making preparations for what they anticipate will be another challenging budget season next spring.
“The low-hanging fruit is gone,” Philip Hagen, director of the county’s Department of Management and Budget, told the Board of Supervisors at its Budget Policy Committee meeting on Sept. 1.
A Fairfax County supervisor is pressing his colleagues to add funding for additional ballot drop boxes to support future elections.
Currently, the county operates a single permanent voter dropbox at the Fairfax County Government Center, for a community of about 1.1 million people spread across approximately 400 square miles.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is considering tightening rules around funding awarded to nonprofit and regional organizations.
Each year, supervisors distribute about $26 million to the organizations through what is known as the Contributory Fund.
As many Fairfax County high school students drive or walk to school this fall, they’re arriving at a building without a dedicated crossing guard — and, only a few days into the new academic year, several elected officials say that absence is already creating problems.
This past spring, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors eliminated funding for crossing guards at all public high schools, a move that was expected to save the county about $1.89 million in police staffing costs.
A middle ground may be emerging in what has become a tug-of-war between the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and School Board over funding after-school programming at all 27 public middle schools.
The potential compromise: Rather than charging participation fees to families, the school system could seek voluntary donations and public-private partnerships to cover some of the enrichment program’s annual $11 million operating costs.
Janet Howell, a former Democratic state senator who had represented parts of Fairfax County for decades, has died at age 82.
Howell was first elected to the Virginia Senate in 1991, taking office in 1992 as senator for the 32nd Senate District. The district included Reston, Tysons, Wolf Trap, northern Chantilly and portions of McLean and Arlington County. Before retiring on Jan. 10, 2024, Howell was the longest-serving woman in the state Senate alongside current President pro tempore Louise Lucas (D-18). When Democrats took control of the chamber in 2019, she was the first woman to chair the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee.
The Commonwealth of Virginia is putting some money behind plans to add a visitor center at the heart of the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail.
The two-year state budget adopted by the General Assembly and signed by Gov. Abigail Spanberger in late June includes $1 million for the Town of Vienna to help acquire the land needed for the future hub, a project spearheaded by the W&OD Railroad Regional Park’s owner, NOVA Parks.
Virginia is creating a new office focused on studying the impacts of climate change, and it will be housed at George Mason University.
Mason was authorized to host the Virginia State Climate Office by a provision in the state budget that took effect on July 1 after last-minute negotiations between Gov. Abigail Spanberger and the General Assembly. The governor ultimately signed the two-year spending plan into law on June 29 — just before the end of the fiscal year.
Virginia lawmakers want to examine consolidating Northern Virginia’s transit agencies to assess potential cost savings and service improvements.
The proposal, which is included in the two-year budget lawmakers passed Monday, directs the Department of Rail and Public Transportation to include in its report not only the cost savings and long-term financial impacts of merging multiple systems, but also how potential changes would affect riders through fare structures, service reliability and accessibility.
Community engagement sessions are on the horizon to gather public input on the future of the David R. Pinn and Huntington community centers.
Both centers are slated to close as county-run facilities after the summer. Fairfax County officials say a combination of a challenging budget environment and declining attendance trends led to the decisions.
