Fairfax County residents would not see significantly improved services in fiscal 2012 despite paying higher taxes under the government’s budget proposal. The average homeowner will see property taxes rise by about $111 a year if the $1.09 tax rate proposed by County Executive Anthony Griffin, and approved Tuesday by the Board of Supervisors, is left unchanged before passage of the final budget in April.
But under Griffin’s proposal, the increased revenue would not provide raises for teachers or county employees, nor would most county agencies see financial relief after several years of cuts.
Instead, part of the revenue would be used for $25 million toward employee pension and other retirement benefit funds and to pay for nearly $9 million in expected increases to health insurance. Premiums are expected to rise by about 10 percent — a cost that would be shared between the county and the insured. An additional $7 million would go toward workers’ compensation claims.
Some services could see improvements. More than $6 million would go toward mass transit operation and construction, partly to serve those in the Fort Belvoir area who will be smacked with worse traffic when thousands of new military workers transfer there in September.
About $12 million would be added for human services, including an additional $1.3 million to families in need of financial assistance for child care. That money would be offset with increased state and federal revenues.
Griffin’s proposed $3.4 billion in general fund expenditures allotted more than half of the money to the school system. Still, the schools’ nearly $1.8 billion share of the pie is about $50 million short of their request.
Supervisors stressed Tuesday that the $1.09 tax rate per $100 of assessed home value is not set in stone. Instead, it is the highest rate they will consider as they enter two months of negotiations with county agencies, the schools and the public about how exactly to pay for fiscal 2012.
The majority of the supervisors, including Chairwoman Sharon Bulova, expressed support for reducing the rate if possible.
“Certainly, we’d all like to see the tax rate be the best possible,” said Supervisor Linda Smyth, D-Providence. “My concern is that the General Assembly is still meeting, and we don’t know what else will be dropped on the county in terms of unfunded mandates.”
