Fairfax Advertises FY27 Budget, April 2026

Providence Supervisor Dalia Palchik and School Board Member Karl Frisch presented the FY27 budget to residents this month in a cordial meeting free of last year’s controversy over tax increases and program cuts.

While some disagreements between the county and Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) persist, including a $20M gap between the county budget and FCPS’s transfer request, presenters mostly preferred to shift blame towards Richmond. Presenters pointed to a study by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) that showed that Virginia funds schools by a lower proportion than neighboring states, which forces localities to make up the difference.

Richmond leaders may disagree with this assessment, however, since the FCPS budget includes an additional $71M in state aid, or an extra 9% over FY26.

The FY27 Advertised Budget projects keeping the residential property tax rate the same as FY26, $1.1225 per $100 assessed value. Between higher real estate assessments and a full year of the new Meals Tax, the county expects to raise an additional $270M this year.

The extra money is mostly going towards county employees. The budget fully funds the collective bargaining agreements with police, fire, EMS, and dispatch, and includes a 2% cost of living adjustment for all employees at a cost of $102M. The budget also includes a 4% increase in transfers to FCPS, or $118M, which includes a mix of operating support, debt service payments, and program transfers, notably including the middle school after school programs.

Respondents to last year’s Mantua Issues Survey expressed interest in further reductions in spending, and the FY27 budget does include cuts of around $32M, as well as eliminating 107 positions.

Our district, Providence, continues to be a growth driver in the county. Providence saw a slightly above average home assessment increase of 4.93% versus 3.99% across the county. In an area like Mantua, where assessments are higher than the median, that will likely mean a property tax bill increase of about $425 on average.

Providence is a commercial hub for the county, making up around a quarter of the total commercial value of all of Fairfax, primarily due to Tysons Corner. For the first time in several years, commercial real estate vacancy is down and assessments are up by a modest 0.92%. Budget experts report that this should offer some small relief to homeowners, who have had to bear a larger proportion of the budget since the pandemic.

The Board of Supervisors will hear public comment on the FY27 budget on April 14-16, and will mark up the budget on April 28, with final adoption on May 21. If you have budget feedback for the Board of Supervisors, you can reach the Providence office directly, contact me at president@mantua.org, or fill out the Mantua issues survey when it is published in the very near future.