The real estate tax rate in Fairfax County for fiscal 2007 will likely be 89 cents per $100 of assessed value.
The projected rate is 11 cents less than the current rate of $1, and 4 cents less than that proposed by County Executive Anthony Griffin.
“The strategy was to reduce the rate as much as possible, but also to do that in a financially responsible way,” said Supervisor Sharon Bulova, D-Providence.
But homeowners will still pay more in overall real estate taxes, with the average home in the county now valued at $517,000.
The tax rate reduction — along with the abolition of the personal property decal and fee — required county officials to find $100 million in reductions from the proposed 2007 budget plan.
In doing so, the Board of Supervisors emptied a pool of just over$56 million set aside by Griffin for supervisors to apply toward funding projects or tax cuts. The board also cut more than $12.5 million for some renovations at the Jennings Judicial Center and eliminated most of a proposed $10 million in discretionary spending for supervisors.
In addition to the lowered tax rate, the budget committee will recommend granting $16 million to the county public schools. Eight million dollars in funding to increase the number of schools that offer full-day kindergarten will come from 2006 carry-over funding, and an additional $8 million of new spending in 2007 will be used to help fund teacher compensation to raise the starting rate for new teachers as well as to reward those with advanced degrees.
“We are fully prepared to fully fund additional compensation for teachers to make them more competitive. This is for teacher pay, I want to make that clear,” said Chairman Gerald Connolly, a Democrat.
Supervisors will make their final decisions today, with a vote on a final spending plan set for May 1.
