City Budget - At this point

Reading the newspaper or watching the news one knows that government budgets (local, state, federal) are strapped. The City of Fairfax is no exception. The latest numbers from the City Manager indicate that our current budget is in a $2 million deficit and next year's budget is projected to be about $11 million in the red. This is due to a number of factors including:

- A $2 million payment to our retirement fund
- Increased City children enrollment in City schools
- Increase costs in materials

This is does not include any pay raises, additional hiring or any additional discretionary items. On top of this, I think we will see an additional decrease in state aid by about $1 to $2 million, further compounding our problems.

In other words, when the City Council starts to look at the budget we will have to make some hard decisions about what services City residents both truly want and absolutely need.

We all want a fair and low property tax rate. We still maintain the lowest in Northern Virginia at 88 cents per $100 assessed. At this point, I actually think we can achieve the tax equalization rate and ensure that services residents want are maintained. We will have to cut in areas that they may not see necessarily and find innovative ways to streamline City government.

We live in a great City with services even County residents envy. But we also must face fiscal reality. It will certainly be a balancing act for the Council.