I was in the supermarket the other day when I ran into a constituent who asked me what I thought of sequestration.  I couldn’t answer because I had my young children in tow and could not  use the language I wanted. I can tell you, though, that what happens with sequestration matters a lot to Fairfax County.  We saw that on February 26 when the county executive released his proposed fiscal year 2014 budget.  Now, it’s my colleagues and my job to listen to you and crunch the numbers as we look into a very cloudy crystal ball. A year ago, that crystal ball was clearer, our budget reflected improving economic trends, and our economy was one of the strongest in the nation. Then, along came the federal fiscal cliff and sequester.  Why is our County budget affected by decisions made (or not) a few miles down the road in Washington, D.C.?   Over the past decade we’ve worked hard at diversifying our economy but between 10 and 20 percent of our local economy is related to defense or federal contracting to the tune of about $25 billion. With a substantial amount of the county’s workforce involved in some way with what happens on the federal side, that’s a lot of potential drop in retail sales, car purchases, and the like.

The proposed county budget covers two fiscal years, FY2014 and FY2015.  This is a new approach for Fairfax County, intended to give us more flexibility in responding to economic conditions.  The budget continues our commitment to education (52.6 percent of the General Fund) with the next largest amount going to public safety at 12.3 percent.  There are no salary increases for County employees.  The county executive has recommended a 2 cent increase in the residential property tax—whether that will be the actual tax rate I couldn’t say right now.  My colleagues and I will be paying close attention to what we hear about community needs and priorities. Personally, in a time of economic uncertainty my preference is to keep the tax rate as low as possible while still providing essential services.

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My citizen budget committee is hard at work reviewing the budget and preparing its recommendations. (You can read their FY2013report at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/lee/.)  

There’s more budget information at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dmb/. The Lee District Budget town meeting is on March 13 at 7 pm in the community room of the Franconia Governmental Center.  To testify at a budget public hearing, contact the clerk to the board at 703-324-3151 or sign up at   www.fairfaxcounty.gov/bosclerk/speaker_bos.htm for the April 9, 10, and 11 public hearings at the Fairfax County Government Center. The Board formally adopts the FY2014 budget on April 30.