(Updated at 2:40 p.m.) Vienna officials have released a proposed budget that maintains the town’s current real estate tax rate, despite continued economic challenges from inflation and supply chain issues.
The $53.8 million budget for fiscal year 2025, which starts July 1, holds the tax rate at $0.1950 per $100 of assessed value. Combined with a cumulative 3-cent reduction over the previous three years, the town will have cut its tax rate by 14% since 2021, Town Manager Mercury Payton said in a message to Mayor Linda Colbert and the town council.
However, residential property owners can still expect higher bills, thanks to rising home values. Residential properties assessed at over $1 million — the average for a second year — now make up 36.4% of all homes, exceeding their 29.9% share last year and the 26.7% of homes valued at $500,000 to $800,000 this year.
“Real estate taxes have increased due to increasing assessments, as Vienna is a very desirable place to live,” Payton said in the budget proposal. “The average residential tax bill is estimated at $2,204, a 6.5 percent increase over last year, due to a 7.0 percent increase in assessed value of existing (no growth) properties.”
Strong returns on cash deposits, sales taxes and business license fees will help fund a $3.7 million, or 7.5%, increase in the budget compared to fiscal year 2024. Most of that will cover increased costs related to water and sewer needs and borrowing.
The town anticipates borrowing $1.55 million for 22 new vehicles, including four police cars, three police motorcycles, one dump truck, pickup trucks, a tractor, a mower and two trailers.
“Economic trends in inflation and supply chain difficulties continue and are leading to pressure on expenditures without a commensurate increase in revenue,” Payton wrote, noting that meals tax collections have been flat through the middle of FY 2024.
Still, Vienna is projecting a $554,000, or 7.6%, increase overall in local tax revenue — fueled by business
licenses and sales taxes — and parks and recreation fees are expected to go up by $259,000 or 19.7%.
Priorities addressed by the proposed budget include compensation increases totaling 4% for general employees and 5.5% for sworn police officers, which “will assist with…recruitment and retention pressures.”
Starting on July 1, the town will implement new child and family care leave policies for employees who have become new parents or need to care for an immediate family member.
Employees who’ve worked for Vienna for at least 12 months will get six weeks of paid leave to care for a newborn or newly adopted or fostered child, or to get pregnancy-related medical care. The family care leave policy offers up to two weeks or 80 hours of paid time off so employees can care for a sick or injured family member.
Identified as a top priorty of the town council in a Jan. 22 work session, the new leave policies don’t have a direct cost, but they “may result in slight increases in overtime to cover positions utilizing the leave,” according to the proposed budget. Read More
(Updated at 3:35 p.m.) Congress has passed another short-term budget package, averting a partial shutdown of the federal government just hours before a midnight deadline.
In addition to funding the Justice Department, Housing and Urban Development, and other key agencies, the slate of bills passed 75-22 by the Senate on Friday (March 8) includes $12.7 billion in “pork” — money designated for local projects requested by lawmakers for their constituents.
In a joint press release, Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner announced that Fairfax County and other Virginia localities will be among the beneficiaries of the more than 6,600 projects that got funding, per the Associated Press.
“I’m proud that we secured funding for 105 community projects across Virginia that will improve transportation, upgrade water infrastructure, support health care, and more,” Kaine said. “I urge Congress to take up the rest of the government funding bills as soon as possible.”
According to breakdowns provided by Warner’s and Rep. Gerry Connolly’s offices, the biggest allocation for Fairfax County is $4.1 million “to fund a new homeless and domestic violence shelter for families.”
The county’s existing domestic violence and family shelters have exceeded their useful lives, but instead of building new facilities, the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority is planning to convert an existing “extended stay” hotel that will be able to house about 50 families a day.
“Site acquisition activities are ongoing, with the goal of securing a location that is well-served by transit, and close to jobs and services,” FCRHA spokesperson Allyson Pearce said.
Connolly’s office says the site “will entail combining rooms, creating service and office space, and other changes to the existing hotel setup,” noting that converting an existing building instead of constructing a new one will enable the county “to deliver this essential, brand new facility years earlier than might otherwise be accomplished.”
The county has two shelters specifically for people fleeing domestic violence — Artemis House and Bethany House — and two shelters that accommodate people with children — the Katherine Hanley shelter outside Centreville and the Patrick Henry shelter in Seven Corners.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved plans in August 2022 to replace the Patrick Henry shelter with supportive housing after some delays related to land acquisition challenges.
The appropriations package also includes funding for several road and pedestrian projects:
- Spring Street widening from four to six lanes between Herndon Parkway and Fairfax County Parkway ($1 million)
- Fox Mill Road and Pinecrest Road intersection improvements in Herndon ($850,000)
- Silverbrook Road and Lorton Road intersection improvements ($850,000)
- Sidewalk on Ninian Avenue and along Bush Hill Drive to improve safety and accessibility for Bush Hill Elementary School students in Rose Hill ($850,000)
- Gunston Road shared-use path from Julia Taft Way to the Pohick Bay Golf Course entrance in Lorton ($500,000)
- Compton Road bicycle and pedestrian path from the Bull Run Special Events Center access road to the Cub Run Stream Valley Trail in Centreville ($500,000)
- Stone Road trail from the I-66 interchange to an existing trail along southbound Route 28 in Centreville ($500,000)
The Fairfax County Department of Transportation applied for federal grants last summer to fund the Bush Hill and Compton Road projects. Read More
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has advanced a proposal for a 4-cent real estate tax increase, which would mark the first hike in six years, if approved.
Yesterday (Tuesday), the board gave County Executive Bryan Hill the green light to advertise the fiscal year 2025 proposed budget and schedule a public hearing starting Tuesday, April 16, at 3 p.m.
The public hearing will be held in the board auditorium at the Fairfax County Government Center (12000 Government Center Parkway) over three days, ending on April 18.
Several board members, including Chairman Jeff McKay, acknowledged the necessity of raising tax revenue to pay for employee raises, schools and Metro, among other priorities. However, they noted that the tax rate adopted in the final budget draft may be lower than the advertised rate, which sets a ceiling on what the board can approve.
“It is the prudent thing to do,” McKay said, adding that the board needs flexibility to increase the tax rate if the state does not provide enough funding for specific items, such as schools.
Under the proposed plan, the real estate tax rate would increase from $1.095 per $100 to $1.135, boosting the average tax bill by more than $524. Initially, Hill had recommended a 6 to 8-cent hike, but the board rejected the proposal.
If adopted, the new tax rate would generate an additional $129.28 million in revenue, which would help offset the revenue loss caused by a decline in commercial property values, particularly office space.
About 73% of taxable residential properties in the county saw their value rise this year, compared to just 36% of non-residential parcels, according to the county’s Department of Tax Administration. The average residential property assessment increased by 2.86% to $744,526 from 2023.
Also included in the proposed budget is an 8.8% increase in personal property taxes and a proposed 10-cent-per-pack increase in cigarette taxes, raising the total projected revenue to $363.22 million more than last fiscal year.
The advertised budget largely focuses spending to essential areas like public schools and employee compensation, with nearly half of the funding ($165 million) allocated to Fairfax County Public Schools — falling short of Superintendent Michelle Reid’s request for an additional $254 million.
While board members acknowledged the significance of Reid’s request, several noted during yesterday’s meeting too much of the burden would fall on property owners.
Instead, supervisors blamed the state for failing to adequately fund the school system, pointing out that Virginia’s funding for public education falls well below the national average. They also highlighted Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed state budget, which would reduce funding for K-12 schools.
Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity, the lone Republican on the board, said that while he supports the advertised rate, he wants to see the board try to whittle the number down.
“I hope we can start looking at a deep dive on the budget and see what we can do for our taxpayers,” he said.
In addition to testifying at next month’s public hearings, community members can provide feedback to the county on the proposed budget and tax rate online, by text, phone and email.
A final budget and tax rate will be adopted by the board on May 7.
To further its environmental goals, Fairfax County’s to-do list should include building an electric vehicle charging network, addressing “critical” staff shortages, and addressing development pressure, the Environmental Quality Advisory Council (EQAC) says in a new report.
An employee compensation policy update to attract and retain workers in departments such as wastewater and solid waste was the top recommendation in the 2023 Annual Report on the Environment (ARE), EQAC Chair Larry Zaragoza told the Board of Supervisors during its environmental committee meeting on Tuesday (Feb. 29).
“If you had a problem in a facility or in operations that caused some other issues, the consequences could require a lot of corrective action, or they could be publicly undesirable,” he said.
Although it has seen some progress, Zaragoza said the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES), in particular, is seeing higher vacancy rates of 16 to 22%. In some “major functions,” rates have climbed as high as 32%, according to the presentation.
Zaragoza acknowledged that the recommendation to develop a network of charging stations for electric vehicles would be challenging to implement, but necessary.
“This seems to be an issue that is challenging the nation with respect to the conversion to EVs,” Zaragoza said. “People have a fear that they won’t have options for charging their vehicles.”
Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said that, while it’s true more EV charging stations are needed, the biggest issue is maintenance, speculating that, on a typical day, about 50% of chargers don’t seem to work.
He advised the council to look into ways to address the maintenance issues, including potential legislative measures.
“The EV charging people are racing to get as much federal money as they can to install these and then don’t have anybody to come back and repair them,” McKay said. “And to me, that’s a huge threat to EV utilization because [when] you see them on a map, you expect them to be working.”
Reiterating a recommendation made last year, the report calls for the county to provide more funding for its stormwater program through either one of two options:
- An increase in the Stormwater Service District tax in 2024 by at least one-quarter penny, from 3.25 cents to 3.5 cents per $100 of assessed real estate value
- A change in the base property tax rate
Mason District Supervisor Andres Jimenez asked the council to keep equity and low-income residents in mind when considering these adjustments.
“I would hope that there will be something in place to ensure that the cost increases are equitable and do not disproportionately affect low-income residents,” Jimenez said.
The report also highlights a need to address pressure from development while preserving trees and minimizing ecological degradation.
“As you have development, you often have the loss of trees, you often have loss of habitat, and to the extent that it’s possible, it’s good to try to preserve as much as you can in this process,” Zaragoza said.
McKay agreed with the need to minimize environmental damage but said the council should also carefully consider how that priority intersects with the “oldest parts of the county that are in desperate need of revitalization.”
According to the report, proposed topics that the EQAC will review this year include the impacts of data centers, flood risks, and water security.
County staff have been developing guidelines for regulating noise, water pollution, power usage and other issues raised by data centers. In a new ARE recommendation, EQAC suggests that the county collect energy consumption data on its current and planned data centers, including the extent to which they utilize green energy.
The Fairfax County School Board is moving ahead with its plan to change middle school start times.
According to Fairfax County Public Schools, research has shown that later start times could positively influence student academic performance and mental and emotional well-being.
Last September, the school system awarded consulting firm Prismatic Services a contract to develop a plan for changing middle school start times to 8 a.m. or later. The goal is to make these changes without changing high school start times or impacting the FCPS budget.
Currently, all middle schools start at 7:30 a.m. FCPS moved high school start times to around 8 a.m. in fall 2015 through its Blueprint for Change adoption. At the time, the then-superintendent said revisions to middle school start times would be considered at a later date.
At a meeting last Thursday (Feb. 22), the school board received an update on the plan from Prismatic Services President Dr. Tatia Prieto, who said the goal is to recommend start times to the board in January 2025 with the intent to implement changes by 2026, if the board adopts them.
“To get there, we have a number of milestone activities,” Prieto said. “The background report, which we’re currently engaged in, [covers] the history of efforts in Fairfax around this issue. We’re also developing a number of case studies with a few large school districts to look at lessons learned from their implementation.”
The firm will also conduct on-site observations at selected middle schools.
“This is going to include observing bus observations at selected middle schools in order to get a good feel for things,” Prieto said.
The plan also includes a total of eight public information sessions for the community — four in the spring and four in the fall.
“The spring ones are going to be more informational in nature,” Prieto said. “We’ll communicate about sleep research, and let participants discuss how later school start times could be beneficial and could be implemented. And then the fall ones will present two to four alternatives for input.”
Additionally, the firm will conduct online surveys and forums. One major concern in changing school start times is transportation constraints, which Prieto said would be covered in the information sessions.
“Analyzing the potential impact of moving middle school start times on both the number of drivers needed, and on all the special programs will be part of our work on this project,” Prieto added.
Mount Vernon District School Board Representative Mateo Dunne questioned how a possible time change would affect extracurricular activities like sports, particularly in the fall and winter when the sun goes down earlier.
Prieto pointed to Anne Arundel County Public Schools, which also hired Prismatic Services to help change its school start times.
“All of their middle schools start at 9:15. They shifted their sports program — which is much more extensive than what you currently have — to the after hours, and are not experiencing any problems,” she said.
Dunne also asked how a change in the start time would affect staff and teachers working at middle schools. Prieto said they propose surveying teachers to find out if they foresee any potential issues.
“I will add that we did develop, as one of the initial documents for this, a list of the key stakeholders we need to talk to,” she said.
Springfield District Representative Sandy Anderson requested more information on how later start times has affected attendance at other schools.
“I have an eighth grader. I can’t imagine having him have to get to school on his own at 9:40, so that is terrifying to me,” Anderson said.
As anticipated, Fairfax County is looking at a tight budget for the coming year that will once again lean primarily on residential property owners to offset a declining commercial tax base.
County Executive Bryan Hill has proposed a 4-cent increase in the real estate tax rate, even as he presented an advertised fiscal year 2025 budget to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors yesterday (Tuesday) that largely limits spending to obligations like public schools and employee compensation.
If adopted, this would be the county’s first real estate tax rate increase in six years, Hill said in a message to the board. Last year, Hill proposed a flat tax rate that the board ultimately reduced by 1.5 cents to $1.095 per $100 of assessed value, though property owners still saw their bills go up by $412, on average, due to rising home values.
The proposed tax rate of $1.135 per $100 for FY 2025, which starts on July 1, would raise the average tax bill by just over $524 and generate $129.28 million in revenue, according to the county.
“We are seeing some residential growth, but our commercial values have declined, resulting in an overall real estate growth of just over 2.7%,” Hill said. “Paired with significant expenditure pressures — particularly for employee pay and benefits, transportation requirements, and continued inflationary impacts — balancing this proposed budget has required difficult decisions.”
Home values up, commercial values down
Real estate tax revenue provides about 66% of the county’s general funds, which supports most county operations, from public safety agencies to libraries and parks. For FY 2025, more than three-quarters of that revenue (76.7%) will come from residential owners, who are facing an average assessment increase of 2.86% for 2024.
Though the number of home sales in the county last year declined, prices have continued to climb “due to low inventory,” Hill said. The average value of the county’s over 357,000 taxable residential properties for 2024 is $744,526, up from $723,825 in 2023.
By contrast, non-residential property values have dropped for the first time in three years by 1.24%, a dip mostly driven by a struggling office market. About 21.6 million square feet, or 17.2%, of the county’s 119.5 million square feet of office space is vacant — an uptick from last year’s rate of 16.7%, which was already a 10-year high.
With another 1 million square feet of office space under construction, mostly in Metro’s Silver Line corridor, the pressure to revitalize or replace under-utilized office buildings will likely only intensify going forward.
“That space is going to be snapped up quickly, which is going to create situations around our county that will be then vacant,” Hill said when asked by Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk about possible remedies. “We have to figure out ways to fill those spaces, whether it is converting or doing something different on that plot of land. We have done a pretty good job in certain areas of revitalizing…but we need to do more.”
Schools and compensation dominate spending
With some growth projected from other sources, including an 8.8% increase in personal property taxes and a proposed 10-cent-per-pack increase in taxes on cigarettes, the county anticipates getting $363.22 million more in revenue than it did this budget year.
However, Hill says he proposed spending only on “adjustments which I feel are essential to maintain the quality workforce and dependable services upon which our residents rely.” Read More
Fairfax County Public Schools is stepping up its requests for funding this year from both local and state leaders.
The school system is seeking an additional $254 million from Fairfax County for fiscal year 2025 — about 10.5% more than last year — to help fund a projected $301.8 million, or 8.6%, budget increase, FCPS Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid reported in a presentation to the school board on Thursday (Feb. 8).
According to Reid, the increase is necessary for FCPS to meet the needs of all its students and adequately compensate its staff, even though student enrollment remains below pre-pandemic levels and no new initiatives are included in the proposed $3.8 billion budget.
With the county government bracing for a tight budget year itself, Reid stressed that the local request could be reduced if Virginia contributes more than the $42.2 million increase currently expected based on Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s proposed funding plan for the state.
“What I’m presenting…is what I believe we need to resource and sustain the excellent work that our staff are doing today and compensate our staff into the future to keep us competitive, with the hope that as our General Assembly deliberates…they’ll see the necessity of actually allocating a greater amount of state funding, which will help us out in terms of our county transfer,” Reid told the school board.
The disparity between the local and state funding for public education has long frustrated both county and FCPS leaders, who argue that the formula used to calculate funding needs for each school division is outdated and shortchanges Fairfax County — one of the wealthiest counties in the Commonwealth, but also its biggest and most populous.
Those grievances got validated last year when the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission released an anticipated study that found Virginia spends about $1,900 less per student than the national average, falling below nearby states like Maryland, West Virginia and Kentucky.
If the Commonwealth matched the 50-state average, it would allocate $345 million to FCPS, according to Reid.
“So, just funding us at the average would be more than what we’re actually asking for in additional funds,” she said.
Multiple school board members acknowledged that the size of the funding request may give some community members pause, especially with only a modest growth in enrollment projected for FY 2025, which starts on July 1.
According to the proposed budget, FCPS expects to have 181,701 students next school year. Enrollment has ticked up over the past few years, reaching an estimated 180,398 students this year, but before the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered classrooms in March 2020, the school system had over 188,000 students. Read More
Teacher recruitment, school safety and controlling class sizes have been designated as top priorities for funding by the newly sworn-in Fairfax County School Board.
However, the county’s expected financial constraints may make it challenging for the board’s entire wish list to get funded in the upcoming budget cycle, which will start July 1.
Last week, the school board approved a resolution to serve as a guide for Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid as she crafts the school system’s proposed fiscal year 2025 budget.
The resolution highlights improving teacher compensation, particularly for special education and Title 1 schools, as a key priority. Board members also stressed the importance of increasing access to universal breakfast and lunch programs, reducing school meal debt, expanding preschool options, lowering class sizes, and providing additional funding for mental health and academic support.
While some of those priorities are broad in scope, Mason District School Board Representative Ricardy Anderson noted the board has been discussing these issues with the superintendent and her staff in both public and private meetings for months.
“This is not a surprise,” she said. “They have been part of these conversations, and they understand what the board finds important.”
Aside from Anderson, Braddock District Representative Rachna Sizemore Heizer, and Hunter Mill District Representative Melanie Meren, who supported the resolution, most school board members are newcomers who were not part of the initial discussions on the board’s budget priorities last year.
Despite that, Anderson noted that the new members — all elected in November with Democratic endorsements — have shown strong support for many of the same issues as the previous board, which was similarly all Democratic.
“There was a lot of overlap with what the former board found important and with what the new board finds important,” she said.
Still, there is the hurdle of getting the county on board.
Fairfax County staff told the school board and the Board of Supervisors at a joint meeting last November to prepare for a tough budget year, forecasting a $284.5 million shortfall mainly due to a “flat real estate market,” according to the county website.
At a Nov. 14 school board work session, FCPS Chief Financial Officer Leigh Burden predicted a $202.6 million gap in the revenue needed to fund a 6% salary increase for all FCPS employees, address rising student service demands, and cover inflationary costs.
FCPS has a total operating budget for the current fiscal year of $3.5 billion — a $221.7 million increase from the previous cycle.
The superintendent is set to present her budget proposal to the school board next Tuesday, Feb. 6. How her office will address the revenue gap and incorporate the school board’s priorities into the proposal remains unclear.
However, Anderson said she doesn’t anticipate the school board’s entire wish list will be fulfilled.
“They’re big ticket items, and there’s only so much you can do in any given year,” she said.
Town of Herndon officials estimate a modest influx of general fund revenues in fiscal year 2025 as work begins on preparing the upcoming budget.
At a Herndon Town Council meeting on Jan. 2, Director of Finance Marjorie Sloan said the town expects roughly $41.1 million in general fund revenues — down from $47.6 million in fiscal year 2024, which began on July 1, 2023.
Town council members emphasized the need to find ways to maintain the town’s current level of services, given the overall revenue picture.
“My concern has always been our revenues are not increasing that I think that we need to maintain,” said Councilmember Cesar del Aguila.
Still, Town Manager Bill Ashton II said Herndon is likely “one of the best capitalized localities in Northern Virginia.”
So far, occupancy and meals taxes are “trending favorable” in the budget, according to Sloan. Revenue has also been buoyed by higher-than-average interest rates on investments, and the town is able to shed some costs after deciding to discontinue the Herndon Festival.
Despite the town’s relatively strong cash position, however, high staff turnover — nearly 50% for some positions — remains a challenge.
Councilmember Pradip Dhakal said he’s concerned about the high costs of onboarding new staff and potential implications for turnover in future years.
“50 percent new hires…To me, that’s a little scary, but I think we’re awesome so we can handle it,” del Aguila said.
Tax increases or increases in some town fees may be inevitable, some council members concurred. Still, Sloan said it was important to consider that the current outlook was simply an estimate.
“The bottom line is you can’t always look at the mid-year update and see exactly where we are,” she said.
The council will review a resolution on budgetary guidance at its Jan. 16 meeting. Work sessions on the budget kick off in February — including discussions of a 7% rate increase by Fairfax Water. The proposed budget is scheduled to be publicly released around March 31, followed by the beginning of public hearings on May 9.
At the halfway point of his administration, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin unveiled a budget proposal that calls for significant income tax cuts, increases in state sales and use tax — and a push to get rid of the car tax, which the Republican called “the single most hated tax” in Virginia.
“The car tax belongs in the trash can and not in your mailbox,” he said.
Speaking to the state’s joint money committees Wednesday morning, Youngkin reiterated his familiar themes that Virginia must take action to reverse ongoing population losses to other states and reduce residents’ tax burdens.
“Across the country today, there are winning states and there are losing states,” he said. “Virginia must compete even harder.”
But the governor’s speech took a less political tone than earlier addresses to the state’s legislative budget architects, offering fewer criticisms of prior administrations and acknowledging that Virginia government remains divided after Democrats narrowly won control of both chambers of the legislature this November. That outcome dampened Youngkin’s prospects for a presidential run and will force him to work across the aisle to achieve his key priorities.
Because Virginia operates on a two-year budget that is amended annually, the “Unleashing Opportunity” budget presented by Youngkin Wednesday represents the governor’s first crack at crafting a state spending plan from whole cloth. The last two-year budget, which was passed in 2022, was based on a plan from outgoing Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam.
With power divided between Democrats and Republicans in Richmond and historic state surpluses fueled by pandemic-era relief spending, the past few years have seen unusual levels of contention over the state budget. Amendments to the spending plan, ordinarily passed at the time the General Assembly adjourns in late February or early March, took until September this year to come to fruition as the parties bickered.
“I would ask us to deliver a budget on time when you adjourn sine die in March,” Youngkin told the money committees on Wednesday, referring to the final adjournment of the legislative session. “Virginians deserve it, and I know we can do it.”
This year, lawmakers will have less money at their disposal, with pandemic-era infusions of cash at an end and state economic officials projecting a mild recession beginning in the last quarter of fiscal year 2024.
The “overwhelming consensus” of state leaders, said Youngkin, was that in developing the budget, “we should build in caution.”
Democrats have already signaled concerns with the governor’s spending plan — and some surprise.
“I heard the governor say this was halftime. And he came back out as a Democrat, a lot of tax increases,” wisecracked incoming House Speaker Don Scott, D-Portsmouth, in an exchange with Virginia Secretary of Finance Stephen Cummings.
Senate Democrats on Wednesday afternoon issued a statement calling the governor’s budget “absolutely disgraceful” and “a slap in the face of our most vulnerable individuals.”
“We are smart enough and bold enough to know that his speech was the highlight reel and that he omitted the dirty details of his plan,” the caucus wrote. “Governor Youngkin believes that ensuring more tax cuts for wealthier individuals is most beneficial for low income individuals in our commonwealth.”
The proposal put forward by the governor Wednesday marks only the beginning of the state’s budget season. When the General Assembly convenes Jan. 10, both chambers will have a chance to modify Youngkin’s budget, removing parts they don’t like and accepting or strengthening those they do. The House and Senate will then need to reconcile their two versions of the plan — a process that historically has occurred behind closed doors through the legislature’s opaque conference committee system — and send it to the governor for his review.
“While we appreciate Governor Youngkin for sharing his budgetary vision today, it is imperative that we have a thorough examination of his proposal,” said Del. Luke Torian, D-Prince William, the incoming chair of the House Appropriations Committee. “This is the starting point to construct a budget that not only reflects our dedication, but also secures prosperity and fairness for every resident in the commonwealth.”
Here’s some of what Youngkin is proposing at the starting line. Read More