Fairfax County Public Schools officials have agreed to more stringent reporting standards on how the system spends money extracted from developers, according to a recent report.
The county collects cash payments, or proffers, from builders to pay for improvements to schools, roads and other services as part of the rezoning process. Fairfax, however, had for several years withheld part of its schools systems’ portion over lack of a “mutually acceptable accounting and tracking system,” according to the report this month from county auditors.
Under the agreement, the county will transfer $5.4 million to the school system and deliver additional transfers each quarter, while the school officials will prepare a semiannual report on how, where and how much is used.
“The county and the schools are going to benefit from this new arrangement,” county spokeswoman Merni Fitzgerald said Monday. “The proffer money will be distributed to the schools in the timely fashion. The new reports will make it very clear how much proffered money is available for schools and how the money is being spent.”
Proffer money, and how the county uses it, is a controversial issue in Fairfax County, especially in an election season dominated by discussions of traffic and development. The school system recently upped the amount it requires per each new student from $7,500 to $11,630.
