Fiscal Year 2027 Proposed Budget Review

Enhanced revenues through higher taxes is certainly one way to address the importance of maintaining quality of services. That being said, this is one of the most expensive counties in the country to live in. As a working professional, I speak on behalf of many that with all of the other increases in costs, we feel that we are being "priced out" of our homes. I would strongly encourage the team to look at other avenues for revenue, including cutting discretionary expenses.

@rob86 The city benefits from the tax revenue generated by commercial development. Businesses also pay taxes (e.g. real estate., BPOL, business personal property, sales, meals, transient, etc.). Residential development provides similar, albeit smaller, tax benefits, which are somewhat offset by the larger number of services provided to residential taxpayers, schools being the largest example.

Higher tax bills (mostly due to increases in property value) are very frustrating for sure. Nobody wants to see their taxes go up. But we also don't want to see the quality or extent of city services diminished. My family moved to Fairfax City because we have excellent schools, excellent trash service, excellent roads, and excellent community services. Our real estate tax and personal property tax rates are much lower than Fairfax County. Yet if we were living in the county we would have to pay for inferior trash service, lower resourced elementary schools, and would have to share public services among a lot more people. We can't keep this quality of life as costs of everything rise without paying for it. I think it would be foolish to defer school maintenance and community investment. It would only require us to deal with more next year. That said, I would encourage the council to do everything possible to grow the commercial tax base to offset the costs to residents long-term. I would also suggest that the council consider increasing the restaurant tax more than they are to limit property taxes to the extent feasible.

Higher tax bills (mostly due to increases in property value) are very frustrating for sure. Nobody wants to see their taxes go up. But we also don't want to see the quality or extent of city services diminished. My family moved to Fairfax City because we have excellent schools, excellent trash service, excellent roads, and excellent community services. Our real estate tax and personal property tax rates are much lower than Fairfax County. Yet if we were living in the county we would have to pay for inferior trash service, lower resourced elementary schools, and would have to share public services among a lot more people. We can't keep this quality of life as costs of everything rise without paying for it. I think it would be foolish to defer school maintenance and community investment. It would only require us to deal with more next year. That said, I would encourage the council to do everything possible to grow the commercial tax base to offset the costs to residents long-term. I would also suggest that the council consider increasing the restaurant tax more than they are to limit property taxes to the extent feasible.

Year after year my real estate taxes go up. Not just a little but a lot. Over the last three years, my tax bill has increased by nearly 50%! Please do your best to stop all the spending and reduce taxes.

There is no need to be so far below the area median on taxes. Higher rates would support service quality and drive higher value land uses.

Real estate taxes have already increased year over year; with the serious energy rate issues Virginia is currently facing with Dominion, now seems like a terrible time to increase the base cost of living (home+utilities) even further. Look for other funding avenues—strongly oppose increasing property tax rates multiple years in a row… it’s unsustainable.

What financial benefits does the city receive from the residential and commercial developments? What costs does the city incur from residential and commercial developments?