Fairfax supervisors on Tuesday (Sept. 16) informally confirmed their support of the Interstate 495 Southside Express Lanes project as it moves toward a make-or-break regional vote next month.
Despite concerns about specifics of the 11-mile-long toll-lanes proposal across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, even the most skeptical supervisors said they supported keeping the project moving through the review process.
Uncertainty remains as county leaders and budget staff begin looking toward the fiscal 2027 budget process.
“Overall, we’re kind of sitting in the same place,” said Philip Hagen, director of the county’s Department of Management and Budget. He was briefing members of the Board of Supervisors’ Budget Policy Committee on Sept. 16.
County supervisors reacted unhappily to how little of their approved funding for pedestrian and bicyclist improvements has filtered down to completed projects.
“How completely unacceptable — it has to change,” said Dranesville Supervisor Jimmy Bierman to the news that only about $12 million of the $82.1 million approved for improvements has been encumbered or spent.
County leaders have now joined School Board members in pushing for more early budget collaboration, to avoid repeating an impasse that soured relationships last spring.
At a Sept. 16 meeting of the Board of Supervisors’ Budget Policy Committee, County Executive Bryan Hill said school leaders needed to develop a “budget of reality” for fiscal 2027.
A new Braddock District Supervisor could be seated by the end of this calendar year.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors officially petitioned the Fairfax Circuit Court on Tuesday to schedule a special election to fill the vacancy — one of the initial steps following last week’s resignation by James Walkinshaw.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors directed staff last Tuesday (Sept. 9) to take a six-month-long deep dive into current housing policies, hoping to eliminate bureaucratic hurdles hampering the creation of more affordable units across the community.
“This is absolutely an essential part of our economic strategy,” said Board Chairman Jeff McKay, who proposed the action. “It comes up in every conversation with the public.”
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday (Sept. 9) adopted a package of new guidelines for relocating tenants when affordable apartments are slated for redevelopment, acquisition or condominium conversion.
“The overarching goal is to assist displaced tenants in moving to safe and affordable replacement housing convenient to their employment or school, while facilitating tenants’ return to preserved affordable units to the greatest extent possible,” county staff said in the report’s overview.
Some Fairfax County School Board members hope closer collaboration with their Board of Supervisors’ counterparts will make for smoother future budget processes than was experienced earlier this year.
Fairfax County Public Schools needs to convince local elected officials and the broader community that “we are being as strategic as possible with every dollar,” Mason District School Board member Ricardy Anderson said during a school board work session on Tuesday (Sept. 9) about budget planning and communications strategies.
Fairfax County supervisors and advocates on Tuesday (Sept. 9) celebrated the progress in integrating local residents with disabilities into the elections process.
The Board of Supervisors designated this week (Sept. 8-12) as Disability Voting Rights Week in Fairfax County, recognizing the need to make voting accessible to the roughly 15% of the local electorate that face disability-related challenges.
Fairfax County leaders have put in writing their concerns about the possibility of the Space Shuttle Discovery moving from Chantilly to Texas.
The Board of Supervisors voted 10-0 on Tuesday (Sept. 9) to send a letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy, asking him to carefully consider whether a move is in best interests of the nation.
