Fairfax County agencies facing a coming budget squeeze have begun to lay out millions of dollars in potential cuts. Among the items that could be on the chopping block: Foreign language training for police officers, a day school for troubled youths, and a sexual violence prevention program for women.
The lists of potential cuts were furnished to the Board of Supervisors over the past two weeks by department heads hoping to identify the least painful reductions to their agencies.
The directors were asked to show how they could trim their bottom lines by as much as 15 percent, which would go toward closing a shortfall of at least $430 million across the county and its school system.
The police department, which presented its cuts at the end of September, put at the top of the list the elimination of its language immersion program, which helps officers communicate with Fairfax County’s many non-English speaking communities. That move saves $90,000.
Police also suggest getting rid of a $24,000 training fund for the neighborhood watch program and dropping the $108,000 SAFE program, which train women in self-defense.
Further down the list are the elimination of programs that manage deer and geese, closing the Fair Oaks District Station, and cutting the street crimes unit, which Fairfax Coalition of Police President Marshall Thielen said would bring about “the return of open-air drug markets” in Fairfax.
“If we have to implement those cuts, it’s going to be devastating in the long term,” he said. “Some of the things they’re looking at cutting would take years to get back.”
Fire and rescue, parks, health, sheriff’s office, family services and other departments also have come forward with suggested cuts, including closing county libraries on Fridays.
The Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court has suggested axing the Enterprise School, which it describes as a coed day school for up to 40 delinquent teens, saving $330,000.
The sheriff’s office would spend $400,000 less on its community labor force, which would no longer remove graffiti or help in animal shelters.
