Politics & Government

Supervisor Holds Sully District Town Hall

Representatives from Fairfax County and the School Board presented the Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 budgets.

Sully District Supervisor Michael Frey held a town hall meeting Monday night to discuss the Fairfax County FY 2012 Advertised Budget Plan and the School Board FY 2012 Updated Advertised Budget Plan

Board of Supervisors (BOS) Chairman Sharon Bulova and Fairfax County School Board Chair Kathy Smith joined Frey at the meeting. The discussion was led by Brian Heffern and Christina Jackson from the Department of Management and Budget for Fairfax County and Susan Quinn, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Assistant Superintendent of Financial Services.  

Frey opened the meeting by saying, "We're better than we were, but we're not out of the woods yet. The economy has not turned around completely." 

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Bulova also said that while some areas of the county are experiencing an increase in property values, other areas are not. She also mentioned that there will be budget cuts at the state level which the county and schools will have to absorb. 

"I think we've done a very good job at making responsible decisions: holding the line on taxes and continuing to fund the quality of life services that people value in Fairfax County starting with our school system, but also libraries and parks," said Bulova. "Our attempt is to strike that balance again this year."  

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Heffern and Jackson continued the town hall by presenting the FY 2012 Advertised Budget Plan. The entire presentation is included with this article as a PDF file, or check out the  for a breakdown of what the budget means for Fairfax County residents. 

Quinn then presented the School Board's FY 2012 Updated Advertised Budget, which was changed on March 7 to reflect state budget impacts.  The School Board was scheduled to present the new budget to the Board of Supervisors today at the first Budget Committee meeting.

The Advertised Budget presentation before the updates on March 7 are included with this article as a PDF file.    

Changes to the revenue from the advertised budget are as follows (in millions):


Advertised Updated County Transfer $48.8 $42.0 State 8.8 36.8 Federal (4.7) (4.7) Foundation Support .5 .5 AP/IB Test Fees 0.0 2.0

The only changes made to the expenses from the advertised budget are as follows (in millions): 


Advertised Updated Special Ed Services $0.0 $6.0 Retirement 27.1 41.5 Closing Clifton ES 0.0 1.2

Key Dates:

  • March 29-31:  BOS holds public hearings on the budget.
  • April 26:  BOS approves the budget.
  • May 12:  School Board FY 2012 Approved Budget is presented for new business.
  • May 17-18:  School Board holds public hearings on the budget. (the 19th will used as well, if needed.)
  • May 26:  School Board adopts FY 2012 Approved Budget
  • July 1:  FY 2012 begins.

Speak Out

To speak at a BOS public hearing, call (703) 324-3151 or (703) 324-2391 or sign up online here. Online requests to speak must be made by 10 a.m. on the day of the hearing, and phone requests to speak by noon on the day of the hearing.  Note: At this time, the 29th is full. 

To speak at a school board public hearing, call (571) 423-1075 or sign up online here. Requests must be made by 4:30 p.m. the day before a hearing.  

The county is also encouraging the community to offer feedback on the proposed budget, which you can do here


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