How a federal government shutdown impacts Fairfax City

Over the last week the news has been focused on whether the federal government will shutdown due to a lack of funding for the current fiscal year ending September 30.

Some may wonder - how would the City of Fairfax, our residents and economy be impacted?

Operationally, the City will not be directly affected by the shutdown since we don't get regular funding from the federal government. The exception could be if some grant payments are delayed and if something unanticipated happens the longer a furlough goes on.

However, the City's economy won't escape the impact of a shutdown by virtue of being part of a dynamic Northern Virginia economy, especially if the shutdown is of any significant duration like a week or two.

Here's how we'd be impacted:

1. In the 11th Congressional District (Fairfax County, City of Fairfax and Prince William County) there are 58,000 federal employees. That's 58,000 people - our neighbors in the City and surrounding area - whose lives will be knocked off-kilter as a result of this situation. And after about two weeks, according to various reports, employees of federal contractors may start to be furloughed.

2. Beside the human toll the shutdown will have on City residents who are federal employees or work for government contractors who are furloughed, there will be an impact on the City's economy.

The regional economy has, thankfully, weathered the worst of the economic donwturn because of its location and proximity to the federal government. As City staff have noted before, we have a robust professional services sector in the City, which includes federal contractors. We also have a solid hospitality sector that relies on spending by the federal government and contractors.

We also benefit directly from the fact that Fairfax County ranks "first in the nation based on the value of federal procurement dollars received" and that one-half of all federal contractors located in the D.C. area are in Northern Virginial. In fact, nearly one-third of the City's 4.1 million square feet of commercial office space is "currently occupied by federal offices or by businesses which consider the federal government" a primary client.

3. Small businesses in the City that rely on the spending of the employees of the both federal employees and contractors working in this office space will see an impact on their bottom-line. If the workers aren't around to spend their money, those businesses will then suffer.

4. People that were furloughed could stop spending money in our City businesses because they have become more frugal as they seek to slow down their spending in light of the fact that they aren't getting paychecks. And when they do go back to work they likely won't get back wages so any extra money will go to paying off debts and shoring up savings they used.

As I write this it is almost time for people to end their work day and their work week - and seven hours away from a possible shutdown of the federal government.

For most people, the weekend is something to look forward to - a time to rest and spend time with family and friends. But for our neighbors and friends who are impacted by this potential shutdown it will be a time of high anxiety, wondering if they will going to work on Monday, wondering when their next paycheck will come and to be blunt - trying to figure out how they got the short end of the stick of an ideological tug of war that they didn't start.