Fairfax County Budget Approved With Lower Real Estate Tax Rate

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Fairfax County property owners will see a lower tax rate in the latest county budget, but average tax bills will go up due to increasing assessment values.

Final budget approval came Tuesday with several tax relief measures as well as employee pay increases. Discussions on the budget were limited on Tuesday, as more in-depth discussions happened at last Tuesday's budget mark-up.

Chairman Jeff McKay said at the budget mark-up that the budget mark-up was an improvement from what the county executive first proposed. One of the biggest changes was lowering the real estate tax rate 1.5 cents from $1.11 per $100 of assessed value to $1.095 per $100 of assessed value.

"What we have done is taken what was a good starting budget proposal, and I believe taken a balanced approach at being able to provide tax relief that's targeted — not only real estate tax relief, but personal property tax relief...other forms of tax relief through senior and disabled real estate tax relief," said McKay. "And we've taken that number as far as we could without jeopardizing the core services that our county residents rely on."

Even with the lower tax rate, increased property assessments will have an impact on tax bills. According to board documents, the $1.095 tax rate would make the average property owners' tax bill go up by $412 due to the impact of assessment values.

Without changing the tax rate from $1.11, as it was in the county executive's budget proposal, the average tax bill would have gone up $520.

Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity, the board's lone Republican member, was the only one voting against the final budget. At last week's budget mark-up, Herrity expressed opposition to a real estate tax rate that doesn't cancel out the impact of increased property assessment values.

"This budget is still largely balanced on the backs of our taxpayers," said Herrity. "It still continues the trends of over 5 percent increases in taxes, you know, a rate that is unsustainable in the face of inflation and in rising assessments.

Herrity had sought an alternative budget that would have reduced the tax rate by another 5 cents. However, that proposal did not get support, as it would have reduced the operating budget transfer to Fairfax County Public Schools by $100 million.

Car tax relief was also included in the budget for a second year due to the impact of inflated used car prices. For the next personal property tax bills for vehicles, residents' vehicles will be assessed at 90 percent rather than the 100 percent normally used for tax bills. The county estimated the average tax bill will go down $68 from last year. The tax rate on vehicles remains $4.57 per $100 of assessed value.

Last year, the budget provided an 85 percent assessment ratio for vehicles, but bills still increased by 33 percent on average. That was due to car values that increased during the COVID-19 pandemic due to higher nationwide used car demand with limited supply. New car supplies have been impacted by supply chain shortages on key parts like chips, resulting in used cars getting more demand.

That trend is starting to turn around, as Fairfax County says 97 percent of vehicles saw values decline or remain the same in the 2023 tax year. On average, values dropped 9.8 percent.

More tax relief is available to seniors and people with disabilities who meet income requirements.

Several fee increases were approved in the budget. For county trash collection customers, the refuse collection fee will increase from $475 to $490, and the refuse disposal fee will increase from $70 to $72 per ton. The sewer service charge will increase from $8.09 to $8.46 per 1,000 gallons, the sewer service base charge will increase from $40.14 to $44.81 per quarter, and the sewer availability charge will increase from $8,592 to $8,860.

Budget Priorities

One priority addressed in the approved budget was pay increases for county employees. Non-uniformed county employees would receive a pay increase of at least 5.44 percent or up to 9.44 percent as well as longevity and performance increases and benefits investments. Those on the lowest end of the pay scale are expected to get the highest pay increases.

For the Fairfax County Police Department, which has been particularly challenged with staff recruitment and retention, average police officer pay will increase between 10.44 percent and 15.44 percent, and a small number will get increases over 20 percent. The police department's starting salary will increase $56,000 to $65,000.

For employees of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department, Sheriff’s Office and Department of Public Safety Communications, pay increases will range from 5.44 percent to 10.44 percent.

The budget also addresses pay for certain fire department positions. Funding was approved to increase the pay of the master technician so it is 5 percent higher than the fire technician rather than the current 2.9 percent difference. Funding will also support increasing the grade level of the fire lieutenant, which is the fire department's first supervisor level rank.

At the budget mark-up, McKay said employee pay increases help the county in the competitive regional job market.

"We are in the most competitive public workforce arena in the United States, because we are not just competing with other localities and with the state. We are also competing with the federal government for workforce," said McKay. "And so these pay adjustments for our county employees are absolutely necessary for our public safety officials, our frontline workers, to provide the core services that we need."

For Fairfax County Public Schools, the operating budget transfer from the county will be $2.42 billion. Last year's transfer from the county was $2.28 billion. McKay said there was little testimony from FCPS officials in the county budget process, as the budget proposal sought to fully fund schools.

"Our schools have had challenges. Our teachers have had challenges. Our teachers deserve the pay raise that fully funding their budget allows us to take advantage of by drawing down state money," said McKay at the budget mark-up. "Some of the most vulnerable kids in the county deserve and need the supports that are in the school budget to help them recover from learning loss."

The Fairfax County School Board decides use of the county transfer funds. The School Board adopted an advertised budget in February and will adopt a final budget on May 25 after the county budget process. A public hearing is planned May 16.

The final approval also had funding items the board added through the budget mark-up process. This included $500,000 to increase support for hotlines addressing domestic and sexual violence, stalking, and human trafficking; $412,642 for a new position to expand Opportunity Neighborhoods into Centreville; $350,000 to support nonprofit projects making affordable housing repairs and accessibility updates; $300,000 in recurring funding for maintenance of girls’ softball fields; $200,000 for ArtsFairfax and $96,000 for a Self-Help Resource Center at the Fairfax County Courthouse's Law Library for those unable to afford legal services.

Check back for full approved budget documents in the coming days on the county's website.