Fairfax Budget Shortfall Smaller, Pay Raises Still Unlikely

Fairfax Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bulova said the Virginia county is dealing with another estimated budget shortfall in the coming fiscal year.

There's nothing funny about an estimated $50 million budget gap. But a wry chuckle from Bulova, a Democrat, is perhaps understandable, given that last year the gap was more than $200 million, and it was $600 million a year before that.

"And so this year, $50 million is moving in the right direction," Bulova said, "but it still is a challenge."

Braddock Supervisor John Cook, a Republican, said the actual shortfall is more than twice that amount, if board members intend to keep tax payments -- and not just the tax rate -- level.

"If we want to hold tax payments equal, which is what we we said we were gonna do in our guidance document that we passed in April, then our shortfall is $120 million," Cook said.

Another issue to be hashed out in the next few months: whether county employees will get a raise.

County workers have gone without a pay increase for the past two years, but in her State of the County address, Bulova said an increase would add another $50 million to the shortfall.