(Updated at 3 p.m.) The Herndon Town Council voted unanimously this week to reduce the town’s real estate tax rate for the first time in more than a decade.
At a meeting on Tuesday (May 9), the council approved a decrease of the rate from $0.265 per $100 of assessed real estate property value to $0.260 per $100 of assessed value.
“This council’s vote to lower the tax rate is acknowledgement of the higher cost of living many of our citizens are experiencing,” Mayor Sheila Olem said. “Real estate assessments are up. The cost of groceries, utilities, gas — all are up. Our aim in adopting this tax rate decrease is to offer some relief to our citizens in these economic times.”
The half-cent cut is a change from the proposed fiscal year 2024 budget submitted last month by Town Manager Bill Ashton II, who suggested keeping the tax rate flat.
But under the newly adopted budget, water and sewer rates will increase by roughly 1.5% due to higher treatment and commodity costs, according to the town.
The town is also positioning itself to absorb the town’s rising contribution to capital costs associated with water sewer treatment. Other taxes and fees remain unchanged.
Overall, the $62.2 million package represents an 8.6% spending increase over last year.
It also includes market rate adjustments (MRA) to boost employee salaries, particularly for sworn officers of the Herndon Police Department.
“The council’s adopted budget also authorizes a significant market rate adjustment for sworn officers of the Herndon Police Department, giving the town parity among nearby jurisdictions, all of which are competing for qualified law enforcement candidates,” the town said.
According to a town spokesperson, the details for the police MRA increase “are not final,” but non-sworn town employees will get a 1% bump this July, followed by a 2% increase in January 2024.
The adopted budget will be available online by July 1, when the new fiscal year begins.
A major project to improve the accessibility of Van Buren Street in Herndon is officially complete.
Known as a “complete streets project” in transportation jargon, the project widened Van Buren Street along a one-half mile stretch from Old Spring Street to Herndon Parkway.
Complete streets is an approach to designing streets that supports safety and access for all users, including pedestrians and bicyclists.
In addition to widening travel lanes to 11 feet, the project added curb-and-gutter and bicycle lanes in each direction. Other upgrades include the addition of 5-foot-wide sidewalks, crosswalks, and traffic signals at Alabama Drive. Overhead utility poles were also relocated and stormwater management facilities upgraded.
Construction on the project started in the spring of 2022.
At a Herndon Town Council meeting late last month, Town Manager Bill Ashton II said the project was substantially complete.
“We have had the contractors out there making some corrections to some elements that we found were deficient to the design,” Ashton said.
He also noted that the project has been in the works for years.
“This is a project that has probably been ten years plus in the making,” he said.
Another round of compensation increases could be on the horizon for some Town of Herndon bodies.
The Herndon Town Council is considering a proposal to increase the compensation for members on the Architectural Review Board (ARB), Historic District Review Board (HDRB), Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals, resulting in an annual increase of $20,400 overall.
The increases would go into effect in July, if approved. It’s in the early phases of the town’s review process and, at an April 18 work session, was placed on the council’s consent agenda for future consideration.
Councilmember Cesar del Aguila said the compensation increase might increase the diversity of candidates who apply, though he noted that it was possible that presumption could be “completely wrong on the statistical side.”
“There are segments of our community where $35 is a lot of money,” del Aguila said. “The thinking was if you invest a little bit, you might reach a broader segment of residents.”
Councilmember Donielle Scherff also said it could boost the “diversity of opportunity” for applicants.
Mayor Sheila Olem, however, noted that some people may not simply seek specific positions due to life circumstances. Prior to her role as mayor, she served on the town’s appeals board because meetings were on a monthly basis and did not interfere with her family commitments, she said.
For ARB and HDRB members, compensation would increase from $100 to $250 per month, $175 to 250 per month for PC members and $50 to $75 per month for Board of Zoning Appeals members.
Last year, the council instituted its first pay increase in 15 years.
The move — which passed as part of the budget with one dissenting vote — increased annual pay from $4,000 to $10,000 for council members and $6,000 to $12,000 for the mayor.
No property tax rate increases are proposed in the Town of Herndon’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2024.
The $62.5 million budget, submitted by town manager Bill Ashton II, represents a 9% increase over last year’s budget.
Ashton said the town was able to hold the line on its real estate tax rate despite the pressures of inflation and a tight labor market.
“Nevertheless, and through careful fiscal management, the proposed FY 2024 Budget allows for continuation of the programs and services town citizens expect and enjoy, as well as funding for new initiatives, chief among them preparatory work on the town’s Comprehensive Plan,” Ashton said in a news release.
But he cautioned that a mixed level of continued recovery is forecasted in the current economic environment.
“With significant levels of inflation, rising interest rates, and a looming national economic recession, the extent to which these pressures will affect the town’s revenue projections is unknown,” Ashton wrote in a letter with his budget proposal. “While we experienced significant revenue declines during the pandemic, we saw many revenue categories start to recover last year.”
Higher tax bills are expected still for most property owners because of rising real estate values. The real estate tax rate will still remain the same at 26.5 cents per $100 of assessed value.
But increases are proposed for water and sewer rates. The sewer service rate will go from $7.16 to $8.28 per 1,000 gallons of water consumption, and the water service rate will increase from $3.31 to $3.47 per 1,000 gallons of water consumption.
All water consumed during peak periods behind the average in the preceding two winter-quarter billing periods will be charged at a higher rate: $5.91 per 1,000 gallons.
The town also plans to use remaining funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to complete deferred maintenance projects, vehicle purchases and water-sewer infrastructure projects.
The Herndon Town Council will adopt the proposed budget on June 30 following a series of public hearings and work sessions.
The public hearings are slated for Tuesday, April 11 and Tuesday, April 25 at 7 p.m. in the Ingram Council Chambers.
By the end of the March, the COVID-19 pandemic will no longer be declared an emergency in the Town of Herndon.
The move follows efforts by neighboring jurisdictions to end formalized states of emergency.
“All emergency actions in response to COVID-19 have been taken and the public health emergency triggered by COVID-19 has diminished to the point that it no longer necessitates a state of local emergency and disaster,” the draft resolution says.
Fairfax County voted unanimously last month to end its state of emergency on March 1, marking a major public health milestone. Loudoun County, Prince William, Alexandria, and Arlington all took that step last year to end their states of emergency.
Here’s more from town spokeswoman Anne Curtis:
Like other jurisdictions, the COVID pandemic triggered the town’s enactment of a local State of Emergency legislation in March 2020. This enabled the town to adopt a Continuity of Governmental Operations Ordinance, giving us the flexibility and authority to adapt operations and adopt practices that enabled us to weather the emergency, like outdoor dining and fully virtual meetings. The Continuity Ordinance expired by law in late 2021. The act of “formally” repealing will have no effect on the daily lives of town citizens.
The end of the declaration comes exactly three years after the town was in the thick of the pandemic.
The item is up for consideration at a Herndon Town Council meeting at 7 p.m. today (Tuesday).
Currently, community level transmission in Fairfax County is low.
A traffic improvement plan along Spring Street may come with some challenges for local businesses owners at Herndon’s Sunset Business Park.
Some business owners say the improvement plan institutes changes that will limit the accessibility and visibility of the office park. Currently under construction, the $11.5 million project is expected to boost service levels along Spring Street and Herndon Parkway at their intersection and approaches.
Specifically, closing the median on Spring Street cuts off the park to customers as well as truck deliveries from the westbound direction. The limited ability to complete a westbound U-turn from Spring Street at Herndon Parkway also makes it challenging for customers to enter the park, some business owners say.
Paul Olsen, co-owner of local coffee shop and roastery Weird Brothers Co., said the project will continue to disrupt traffic flow over the next several years.
“This change to the primary entrance and traffic disruption will negatively impact these businesses dramatically, Olsen wrote in a statement. “This comes in the wake of our local businesses recovering from the negative impacts of the pandemic, operating under historically high inflation, and the current economic recession. Local small business is the backbone of any community, and it is especially true in the Town of Herndon.”
Anne Curtis, a spokesperson for the Town of Herndon, said the town will keep business owners and the public advised, as officials explore ways to improve access via the Herndon Parkway entrance.
“The project will improve congestion and increase safety, and to achieve these benefits there are necessary changes to the access to Sunset Business Park,” Curtis said.
Curtis also noted that a U-turn on Spring Street is allowed except during the evening from from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., “contrary to erroneous reports.”
Olsen’s letter to the council, which was drafted with other business owners and discussed at a town council work session earlier this month, calls on the town to complete a comprehensive and holistic analysis to explore changes to the plan to help small businesses in the parks:
The plan diverts all west bound traffic south on Herndon Parkway to the North Driveway, which is complicated with a small traffic circle and little visibility. This intersection is currently insufficient for current traffic volumes entering and exiting the business park on Herndon Parkway and will be exasperated by the increased traffic diverted from Spring Street. It is not intended to be the primary traffic ingress or egress for fifty businesses and Herndon’s small business core concentration. The majority of customer traffic to the Sunset Business Park comes from the east. Additionally, the business park does not have direct visibility or ownership of real estate on Herndon Parkway which complicates matters regarding the options for signage.
The town and the Virginia Department of Transportation first fielded similar concerns from area businesses in 2018.
At the time, officials noted that allowing vehicles to conduct U-turns at westbound Spring Street at Herndon Parkway would cause “significant conflict” with the northbound right-turn overlap. Backups would then possibly occur on Herndon Parkway.
The topic of pay for the Herndon Town Council is on the legislative body’s docket again.
After instituting the first pay increase in nearly 15 years for the 2023-2024 term, the council is considering the possibility of reducing pay to previous levels.
The move, pitched by Vice Mayor Clark Hedrick, is in response to fiscal constraints and the current economic climate. The discussion is in the early phases of the legislative process.
“The Town of Herndon is facing continued challenges in maintaining its labor force, which could, in part be addressed through retention bonuses, incentives for prospective employees, higher cost-of-living adjustments, and base pay increases,” meeting materials said.
The memo also flags “significant revenue uncertainty” rooted in the COVID-19 pandemic to the town’s tax revenue streams. Specifically, the proposal cites rising energy costs, record-high inflation and the increase of tax bills across the town.
The proposal would put council pay at $4,000 for council members and $6,000 for the mayor through Jan. 1, 2025. After that, pay would return to $15,000 per year for the mayor and $10,000 per year for council members, according to the proposal.
Hedrick argues that the proposal would not significantly impact the quality of candidates that run for open seats.
“The Council is made of up public servants and recent Town elections have seen no shortage of qualified candidates seeking the office of either mayor or council member,” the memo says.
Before pay increases went into effect this year, the council was among the lowest paid bodies across local jurisdictions — even those that are somewhat smaller than the town’s population of roughly 24,300 people.
Before the salary increases approved last year, council members were paid $4,000 per year — a little over $6,000 below the average of jurisdictions in Virginia. The mayor received $6,000 per year — also $6,000 less than the state average.
In comparison, the City of Fairfax — which has a comparable population of 24,000 — pays $12,000 a year to council members and $13,000 for the mayoral position, according to town materials.
Legislators in the City of Manassas have the highest pay — $15,579 for council members and $20,000 for mayor — although the city’s population stands at more than 41,000.
Hedricks did not return a request for comment from FFXnow. The council is expected to discuss the matter at a meeting tonight (Tuesday).
Mayor Sheila Olem cast the lone dissenting vote against last year’s proposal to increase council pay, calling the plan too big of a raise.
(Updated, 3:35 p.m.) With most incumbents running away to victory, it appears that Fairfax County’s voter turnout for the general election this year will fall short of the 2018 midterms.
About 53% of registered, active county voters took part in this year’s midterm elections, per Fairfax County election officials. That’s about 16 percentage points off from the midterms four years ago. It’s also lower than last year’s gubernatorial election, which had a 60% turnout.
In total, 391,361 ballots have been counted so far in Fairfax County, election officials said.
Turnout numbers remain unofficial. Ballots put into drop boxes will be counted today, while additional mail ballots can continue to arrive until noon Monday (Nov. 14).
Absentee mail and in-person voting rose this election cycle compared to 2018, with 130,350 residents voting early this year — just under 18% of active, registered voters in the county. That’s about 44,000 more people than in 2018, when 12% of voters made their decisions early.
Last year, 174,641 county residents, or about 24% of voters, cast ballots by mail or early in person.
With Fairfax County staying reliably blue, the lack of competitive Congressional races on the ballot may have contributed to the lower turnout compared to other recent elections. Based on the preliminary results, all but one local incumbent — Herndon Town Councilmember Signe Friedrichs — appears to have held their job.
Don Beyer (D) secured victory in Virginia’s 8th Congressional District with 73% of the vote with most precincts reporting. The district includes about 282,000 residents of Fairfax County, where Beyer secured 69% of the vote — about three percentage points lower than what he got in 2020 and 2018.
The re-elected Congressman tweeted out a statement just before 9 p.m. last night, thanking voters for “again putting their confidence in me.”
Grateful to voters in Northern Virginia for again putting their confidence in me to represent them in the House of Representatives. Their trust in me is humbling, and I will continue to do all I can to earn it. My statement: pic.twitter.com/mJCE2SNk03
— Don Beyer (@DonBeyerVA) November 9, 2022
In the 11th Congressional District, Gerry Connolly (D) won his eighth term in office with 66% of the vote overall, with all but two precincts reporting.
The 11th District is almost entirely in Fairfax County, covering about 585,000 residents. That includes Lorton, Burke, Fairfax, Chantilly, Vienna, Tysons, Reston, and most of Springfield and Herndon.
Like Beyer, Connolly didn’t fare quite as well this year in Fairfax County as he did in 2020 and 2018, with 66% of the vote compared to over 70% in both of those election cycles.
Mayor Sheila Olem will get a second term as mayor of the Town of Herndon after securing a narrow win against council members Sean Regan and Jasbinder Singh in today’s primary election.
According to unofficial results, Olem edged out the race by a little over two percentage points over Regan. Singh received the least number of votes: 16%.
The Herndon Town Council race — which included nine candidates running for six open seats — is extremely close, as is typical in the town’s council elections.
Current members Naila Alam, Cesar del Aguila, and Pradip Dhakal retained their seats, while challengers Clark Hedrick, Keven LeBlanc Jr, and Donielle Scherff secured enough votes to beat out Councilmember Signe Friedrichs.
The following is a breakdown of unofficial election returns for the council race:
- Clark Hedrick: 3,372
- Pradip Dhakal: 3,334
- Keven LeBlanc Jr: 3,164
- Cesar del Aguila: 3,109
- Naila Alam: 3,084
- Donielle Scherff: 2,965
- Stevan Porter: 2,871
- Roland Taylor: 2,692
- Signe Friedrichs: 2,685
It’s not unusual for the outcome of town council races to change once official results are tabulated.
In 2020, for example, a data entry error dramatically changed the results of the mayoral election.
In this year’s midterm elections, Democratic incumbents representing portions of Fairfax County once again maintained a stronghold over their seats in the House of Representatives.
Democratic incumbents Don Beyer (D-8) and Gerry Connolly (D-11) clenched a decidedly confident victory over their Republican challengers: Karina Lipsman, Hung Cao and Jim Myles, according to uncertified election results.
But Jennifer Wexton’s (D-10) win over challenger Cao was significantly closer than her Democratic colleagues.
The incumbent had a 6-point-percentage margin, with 90% of precincts reporting, as of 10:20 p.m.
In Fairfax County, she led by a mere 48 votes, according to Fairfax County’s unofficial returns.
Victories for Beyer and Connolly were far less contentious, with Beyer winning over 75% of votes versus Lipsman’s nearly 23% and Connolly winning 68% over Myles’s 31%.
Beyer said that he was grateful for voters’ confidence in his ability to represent them.
“I will continue to do all I can to earn their trust, and to serve my constituents,” he wrote in a statement today.
Grateful to voters in Northern Virginia for again putting their confidence in me to represent them in the House of Representatives. Their trust in me is humbling, and I will continue to do all I can to earn it. My statement: pic.twitter.com/mJCE2SNk03
— Don Beyer (@DonBeyerVA) November 9, 2022
Fairfax County hit a 45% turnout rate for the midterms, as of 3:50 p.m., but that number does not account for three hours of voting that remained at the time.
Still, the number appears shy of 2018 midterms when 59.5% of registered voters cast a ballot. In 2014, a mere 41.6% of registered voters voted.
The Town of Herndon is exploring the creation of a new business incubator.
The project is intended to promote e-commerce and establish the town as a tech-savvy area.
Partnerships could include George Mason University, Virginia Small Business Development Center, and Office Evolution, an office space rental agency based in Herndon. Overall, the incubator would offer education and training for entrepreneurs and small business in an effort to boost business growth and overall independence.
The project is in the early planning phases.
“The Town Council has not yet adopted a resolution authorizing the incubator project; that is anticipated to come before the council at its December meeting,” town spokesperson Anne Curtis wrote in a statement to FFXnow.
At a meeting in mid-October, the town council explored the possibility of the project.
Office Evolution would act as the incubator for the project. Mason Enterprise Center Services, a business development service affiliated with GMU, would offer programatic support, including access to its mentor team, discounts for recruiting and payroll services, and access to capstone students and interns.
The project could also include counseling and training services, along with information on marketing, sale, financing and financial management.
