The Fairfax County Department of Animal Sheltering (DAS) will likely assume the duties of the Animal Protection Police, starting this summer.
At a mark-up session last Tuesday (April 30), the Board of Supervisors indicated that it will implement the consolidation by transferring a position from the Fairfax County Police Department and creating a new chief animal control officer (ACO) as part of the fiscal year 2025 budget, which is scheduled to be formally adopted tomorrow (Tuesday).
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has signed off on a 3-cent bump in its real estate tax rate, a move it said was partly forced by insufficient state funding.
The board approved the new rate yesterday (Tuesday) as part of a mark-up session on the fiscal year 2025 budget, which will be formally adopted next Tuesday, May 7. The 3-cent hike is expected to generate about $97 million in additional revenue for the county — about $32.3 million less compared to the 4-cent increase initially proposed.
Real estate taxes will likely go up for Fairfax County homeowners in the coming year, but perhaps not by as much as they could.
The Board of Supervisors plans to approve a 3-cent tax rate increase, down from the four cents that was advertised. That will reduce the average tax bill hike from about $524 to just over $450.
The cost of riding Metro trains and buses will go up, starting July 1, when the transit agency’s new budget takes effect.
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s (WMATA) board of directors approved a $4.8 billion fiscal year 2025 budget yesterday (Thursday) that will increase fares by 12.5%, including by ending the flat $2 rate for weekend and late-night rides introduced in 2021 and expanded in 2022.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors faces tough decisions ahead of next week’s budget markup session, following demands from local unions to increase county employees’ wages.
Last week, dozens of county employees from various departments gathered at a series of public hearings to protest the 2% market rate adjustment (MRA) included in the county executive’s proposed fiscal year 2025 budget — asking instead for an increase of at least 4%.
Water and sewer rates are set to increase as part of the Town of Herndon’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2025.
Released on Friday (March 29) by Town Manager Bill Ashton II, the proposed budget leaves the real estate tax rate unchanged at $0.26 per $100 of assessed value, though bills are still expected to go up due to rising property assessments.
Fairfax County’s next budget could give its public libraries a little more spending money for books.
At the Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday (March 19), Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn proposed allocating an additional $500,000 in the upcoming fiscal year 2025 budget to Fairfax County Public Library’s book collection.
Settlement money from vape-maker Juul will help Fairfax County Public Schools bolster security at some high schools.
The Fairfax County School Board is set to vote tomorrow (Thursday) on adjustments to the school system’s fiscal year 2024 budget, including allocations of the $3.2 million it received from Juul after settling a class-action lawsuit over the company’s flavored e-cigarettes last year.
(Updated at 4:20 p.m. on 3/25/2024) Schools in Vienna, Herndon and Fort Belvoir have or are at risk of losing their crossing guards due to budget constraints facing the Fairfax County Police Department.
The Vienna Town Council and Mayor Linda Colbert were informed at a recent work session that the county will no longer provide crossing guards for any schools in the town’s limits because of a lack of funding, Councilmember Howard Springsteen shared at the council’s meeting on Monday (March 18).
(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.
