Due to budget cuts, the Fairfax County Police Department is no longer offering free child car seat installations and inspections.
The department officially terminated its child safety seat program this past Tuesday (July 1), which marked the first day of fiscal year 2026.
The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has no intention right now of shipping off a centerpiece of its Chantilly facility to Texas.
The federal budget bill that squeaked through the Republican-led U.S. Senate on Tuesday (July 1) includes a provision directing NASA to transfer the Discovery space shuttle from its longtime home at the Udvar-Hazy Center to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, allocating $85 million toward transportation and construction costs.
Fairfax County School Board members faced the embarrassment earlier this year of having to reduce salary increases previously promised to staff under a landmark labor contract.
Moving forward, school board representatives said at a work session on June 17 that they need to drastically change how Fairfax County Public Schools’ needs and commitments are communicated throughout the budget process.
Fairfax County leaders hope to soon have a better gauge of how much they’re getting back from tax revenue sent to Richmond.
The Board of Supervisors voted yesterday (Tuesday) to direct County Executive Bryan Hill and staff to return before the end of the year with an analysis of how many local tax dollars flow to the state government, and how much comes back.
Fairfax County Public Schools staff will receive most, but not all, of their planned salary increases under a revised fiscal year 2026 budget proposal shared last week by Superintendent Michelle Reid.
However, in order to preserve as much of the promised raises as possible, some positions and services will be cut after the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors declined to approve Reid’s full funding request.
Fairfax County teachers’ elation at securing a collective bargaining agreement, the first of its kind in nearly 50 years for the district, has proven short-lived.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is set to adopt a budget for fiscal year 2026 that transfers $2.93 billion to Fairfax County Public Schools — up $119 million from the current fiscal year, but well short of the $248 million increase that Superintendent Michelle Reid requested primarily to cover employee pay raises promised by the union contract.
A lower real estate tax rate, smaller transfer than school leaders sought and imposition of a meals tax are all part of Fairfax County’s $5.7 billion fiscal year 2026 budget slated for formal adoption next week.
“Our residents are worried” as they “prepare for the impact” of the Trump administration’s downsizing of the federal government and its related economic fallout, Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said at a budget markup session today (Tuesday).
At their first meeting after a stabbing at West Potomac High School this week, School Board members said safety and the Fairfax County Public Schools budgets are inextricably linked.
School Board members expressed sympathy for staff, students and families affected by the stabbing, but also used it as a rallying cry in an ongoing budget battle with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
Consideration of a meals tax has gained most of the attention this budget cycle, but Fairfax County supervisors also are looking at increasing the transient-occupancy tax paid on hotel stays.
If adopted next month, the increase from 4% to 6% on stays of less than 30 days will raise an additional $13 million in the coming fiscal year, said Phil Hagen, director of the county’s Department of Management and Budget.
Opponents outnumbered supporters as the public weighed in Tuesday (April 22) on the imposition of a countywide meals tax.
Adding a meals tax on top of the sales tax for restaurant meals and prepared foods would “really be a burden” both to the industry and “economically exhausted consumers,” Jim Rafferty of the Glory Days Grill restaurant chain told Fairfax County supervisors during a public hearing.
