SUMMARY:  As the real estate tax burden on the homeowner continues to increase, up on average almost $400 per property this year, the County continues to spend. The County budget for FY 2006 is up about 9% over 2005, and as a result, Fairfax County is the local jurisdiction with the highest local tax burden in Northern Virginia. This is the background for our series of articles on the budget.

While the majority of the Board of Supervisors literally risk breaking their arms patting themselves on the back for cutting the tax rate, real pain is felt by the taxpayers who are on the receiving end of the "largess." Like the old-time snake-oil salesmen, the Board members are trying to sell the public on the idea that the potion the Board brews will be good for them. In fact, Board members are trying to sugarcoat the fact that taxes continue to go up.

Despite 13-cent reduction on the tax rate, the taxpayers still will pay more, just as they have each year over the last five years. During that time, residential property has been reassessed upward dramatically, providing the county with a larger residential real estate tax base. Even with the lower rate, the large increase in assessed value will result in each homeowner paying more – almost $400 more for the average homeowner.

However, rather than adopting a budget process that recognizes the added pressure on the homeowner, the County continues to spend. This year, for example, the overall county budget will rise almost 9% over last year. Since the real estate reassessments will produce a 12½% increase in real estate tax revenue, most of the 9% increase will be paid for by real estate taxes.

On April 28, 2005, The Sun Gazette published an analysis of the local tax burdens for Arlington, Loudoun, Fairfax, and Prince William Counties, plus the Cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, and Fairfax, and the Vienna and McLean portions of Fairfax County. The paper concluded that a typical Fairfax County homeowner will pay more in local taxes and fees ($6,011) than residents of all other independent jurisdictions surveyed except Falls Church. Fairfax County residents of the Town of Vienna ($6,863) and the area of McLean that supports the McLean Community Center ($9,320) will pay even more. The jurisdiction with the lowest total is the City of Fairfax, which contracts for services with the County, but whose residents do not pay County taxes. The Sun Gazette did not include the towns of Herndon and Clifton in its analysis.

Forward Fairfax believes that it is time to take a hard look at County budgeting with a view to controlling the growth and reducing the burden on homeowners.

In the second paper in this series, "The Need for a Stronger Commercial Tax Base," Forward Fairfax Director Doug Boulter argues that the County needs to focus on increasing the amount of tax revenue obtained from commercial property to decrease the dependence on the real estate tax paid by County homeowners. Noting that commercial tax base has declined from 25.37% to 18.20% of the total real estate assessment base over the past five fiscal years, he suggests that a good business environment in Fairfax County will go a long way to increase the value of existing commercial real estate and to encourage the construction of new commercial buildings. He offers five measures that will contribute to such an environment and help facilitate reasonable, controlled commercial growth.

In the third paper in this series, "Controlling the Budget," Doug suggests that it's time for the County to seriously discuss a budget cap for the County's operational budget. One way a cap might work is to add the rate of population growth, the rate of inflation, and half the increase in GDP. If such a cap had been in place for FY 2006, the increase in the County's budget would have been 6.8%, not the 9% by which the budget was actually increased. To provide flexibility for special situations and emergencies, a simple majority of the Board of Supervisors could initiate a voter referendum on a budget increase above the cap level for a given year.

In the final paper in the series, "Transportation Priorities – A Disturbing Trend," Forward Fairfax President Jack Herrity discusses the failure of the County in the past decade to address transportation needs by using bonds to fund critical projects – no such bonds were put before the voters from 1993 to 2003. He contrasts this with the use of such transportation funding by Prince William County and suggests that Fairfax County should likewise focus its bond funding on reducing the transportation problems.

Copyright Forward Fairfax and Carl Sell, 2005