Master Class in Fairfax County Budget 101

The winter meeting of the McLean Citizens Association turned into a master class on the proposed Fairfax County budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

Joseph Mondoro, who is the deputy director of the county's budget office, acted as teacher and the 30 citizens in the audience were the class.

"I'm always impressed when county staff makes a presentation on the budget," said Merrily Pierce, a former president of MCA. "MCA asks tough question and county staff always responds with excellent information," she said.

Jared Mermalin asked how much money the county was spending on senior citizens since so much goes to kids. "I'm a senior," he said. "We have a disproportionate amount of money going to the schools" at a time when the senior citizens are growing, he said.

Here are five headlines from Mondoro's talk:

No. 1: The county's proposed $6.0 billion budget consists of $3.3 billion in the general fund. $2.2 billion for the schools in the rest in various independent funds.

No. 2: Where does the money come from? No surprise 62 percent comes from taxes on our homes and on offices buildings, apartments and other commercial property.

The county proposes keeping the tax rate at $1.09 per $100 of assessed value. But the county will still gained $103 million in new money because property values are going up. (Look at your assessment notice you received last week.)

Last year commercial values were down by 18 percent. This year they have bounced back and are up nearly four percent.

"That's good news," Mondoro said.

Office building assessments aren't great but apartments are up 14 percent and hotels up 11 percent. Overall commercial assessments are up about about four percent, he said.

Commercial property used to be 25 percent of the county's revenue. Now it's down to 19 percent, he said.

No. 3: The budget contains no pay raises for county workers for the third consecutive year.

No. 4: The county is seeing "a significant demand for services in the safety net," he said.  "Requests for assistance has increased  dramatically," he said. School officials has said that 25 percent of students now come from families in poverty. That's up from 20 percent.

No. 5: Where does the money go:

• 52 percent, more than half  of the $3.3 billion goes to the county's schools.
• 12 percent goes to police and fire.
• 11 percent to health and welfare --- the county's safety net.

The Board of Supervisors will hold hearings on the proposed budget in late March then approve a budget in April.