Fairfax Co. community members speak out about proposed cuts to education programs, law enforcement
Dozens of Fairfax County community members spoke in a series of budget public hearings this week, urging leaders in the Northern Virginia suburb to reject proposed tax hikes and cuts to law enforcement agencies and education programs.
The county is facing a nearly $300 million budget deficit and is working through ways to address it. For one, County Executive Bryan Hill is proposing changes to the county’s Employee Child Care Center.
The center is for county employees and contractors and works with kids ranging from 6 months old to 5 years old. It’s licensed for 100 kids, but county documents say because of its limited capacity, most county workers can’t take advantage of it.
Those workers pay for the program, but “revenue generated from employees utilizing the ECCC does not cover the full cost of the program with the General Fund currently subsidizing the ECCC by approximately $0.86 million,” the county said.
As a result, the budget proposal recommends transitioning the center to a private provider, though the county doesn’t expect the new model to be fully implemented until fiscal 2027.
“They are laying the foundation for the next generation,” one mother said at the hearing. “The work that they do is so vital to our community and society as a whole, and it pains me to think where we would be without them.”
Meanwhile another mother said the center allows her to visit her children during her lunch break and emphasized that 80% of educators have degrees.
“Having my children at the ECCC allows me to know they’re in a high-quality early childhood program, and at the same time, I get the balance that I need as a working parent,” she said.
A teacher at the center told the Board of Supervisors that it serves the community by serving workers, and “they can do their jobs because we do our jobs with hard work, talent and dedication.”
Hill’s budget proposal similarly calls for cuts to the Fairfax County police department’s overtime funding. County documents say the agency is trying to limit its use of overtime, and the cuts would save about $1.7 million.
Steven Monahan, president of Fairfax County’s chapter of the Southern States Police Benevolent Association, said “cutting overtime just doesn’t impact dollars and cents. It directly affects boots on the ground. Fewer overtime hours mean fewer officers on the street.”
To further address the budget deficit, the county’s considering adopting a meals tax and is proposing a property tax increase.
At Thursday’s hearing, one community member called those ideas “simply unsustainable. Many longtime residents may face two grim choices – sell their homes and leave or risk foreclosure and eviction.”
Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors is scheduled to markup its budget on May 6 and adopt a budget on May 13.