President Mark McConn called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m.

Council Members:

Lewis Grimm – 2nd Vice President, Franklin Farm Foundation

Priscilla Knight – Secretary, Sully Station II

Mark McConn – President, Bull Run

Jeff Parnes – 1st Vice President, Chantilly Highlands

Presenters:

Christina Jackson, Department of Management and Budget, Fairfax County

Ellicia Seard, Department of Management and Budget, Fairfax County

• Ms. Christina Jackson and Ms. Ellicia Seard from Fairfax County’s Department of Management and Budget, presented the proposed fiscal year 2012 budget to the council.
• Summary of Budget Recommendations
  • Spending increases should cover only critical requirements.
    • An increase of 2.18 percent Market Rate Adjustment (MRA) for all public safety and non-public employees
    • Limited infrastructure investment
  • Made strategic reductions while retaining core and critical services
    • ($10.64) million in General Fund agency expenditure reductions
  • New reduction of two positions
    • FY 2013 budget includes 34/33.27 SYE new positions
    • Budget recommendation includes 36 positions for abolishment as of recommended agency reduction
    • Positions per capita ratio @ 11.24 positions per 1,000 residents.
  • FY 2013 Income for the General Fund -- Receipts will be about $3.5 billion
  • County homeowners and builders did not sell as many homes in the past year, but homes are selling for about 3 percent more. The number of days homes are on the market has decreased. The number of seriously delinquent payments has declined.
  • Three quarters of the County’s income is from taxes on residential homes, especially detached homes. More people are moving into apartments. Therefore, rental rates are high. The mean assessed value of residential property in FY 2013 is estimated to be $449K – up from $433K in 2011.
  • The nonresidential real estate vacancy rate is up slightly and there are about nine commercial buildings under construction. Many of the speculative buildings are at Tysons and in the Fort Belvoir area. Growth in nonresidential building is about 20 percent and growing while residential growth has stabilized.
  • The biggest increase for the County is coming from personal property taxes because vehicles are increasing in value, even used cars. The Tsunami in Japan has made used cars more valuable.
  • General Fund Disbursements -- Disbursements will be $3.5 billion
  • Schools will maintain receiving 52.5 percent of disbursements, followed by 12 percent for public safety and 11 percent for health and welfare. Schools anticipate getting more funds from the state to cover their shortfall. The combined transfer for school operating and school debt service will be $1.85 billion.
  • The cost of county operations will increase in FY 2013 by 2.18 percent. This increase will cover increased costs for the Office of Elections, streetlights, vehicle services (higher gas prices), employee retirement accounts, health and other benefits.
  • The major part of the human service increases will be for School-Age Child Care (SACC), and human services contributories, e.g. the Birmingham Green home. Transportation increases are for Metro operations and construction, county transit (including The CONNECTOR bus, which will increase about 7 percent and the VRE railway). Fees will also increase for Rec-PAC programs and stormwater management.
  • Community development increases will be for the Lorton Arts Foundation, $3.35 million (The Board of Supervisors is investigating this high amount of money given to a private entity), Tysons redevelopment, and community development contributories. The County will host an Olympic-style, 10-day event -- The World Police and Fire Games -- in 2015. The games are expected to attract about 10,000 people.
  • Public Safety increases will go to police department personnel services and for the animal shelter on West Ox Road. The shelter will nearly double in size.
  • Reductions in force will not need to occur, even though some agencies will have reductions, because of retirements and other employee departures.
  • Looking Ahead
  • FCPS will have more students in kindergarten than ever before this fall.
  • The County needs a new county executive, more funding for: transportation, the Tysons Corner transformation, the county’s safety net of services, employee compensation.
  • The Board will hold public hearings on the budget April 10-12. The supervisors will “mark it up” on April 24 and adopt it May 1.

• ADJOURNMENT

  The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m.

• The next meeting of the Sully District Council will be on Wednesday, 25 April 2012, at the Sully District building on Stonecroft Road. VDOT staff will present plans for Automated Traffic Management on I66

Respectively submitted by,

Jeffrey Parnes
1st Vice President
Sully District Council