In keeping with this theme, tonight I will balance
highlighting the county's accomplishments over this past year
- which are many -- with the challenges that lay ahead - which
are formidable.
We can all be exceedingly proud that Governing
Magazine has ranked Fairfax County as the "Best Managed
County in the Country," a testament to our efficiency
in balancing shrinking resources in challenging times. In
fact, in 2003, Fairfax County agencies and employees won more
than 60 awards from independent, outside groups for public
administration, budgeting, information technology, parks,
libraries, child care, volunteer interpreters, our pollution
control plant, the Fairfax Connector, e-government services
and environmental cleanup efforts, to name a few. We can all
take pride in the level of excellence, efficiency and services
that those recognitions reflect.
Fairfax County is one of the most financially
sound jurisdictions in the country. Even in these times of
formidable challenges, our economy has remained strong. Our
unemployment rate, according to the latest data, is 2.0 percent
- far lower than national and state averages.
Despite the national job loss, Fairfax gained a net of 3,429
jobs from the 2nd quarter of 2002 to the 2nd quarter of 2003.
[See Chart
#1]
And while sales tax receipts - both an economic
indicator and a real source of revenue to support county services
- have decreased each year since 2000, recent sales tax figures
have begun to show modest growth.
But there are significant challenges. Some good
has come out of the ongoing General Assembly session, but
the stalemate in Richmond has dashed some of our hopes as
well. With the help of the hospitality industry, we convinced
legislators to allow a 2 percent hotel tax increase, raising
an extra $5 million from visitors which can help us to provide
homeowner tax relief. We must continue to press the General
Assembly to give Fairfax County further tax reform; we need
the same powers which the Legislature has given to towns and
cities in order to further diversify our tax base. Only then
will we be able to lift the tax burden which falls so disproportionately
on homeowners.
Currently, the county receives 60 percent of
its revenue from the real estate property tax. [See
Chart #2] This is simply unfair to homeowners, especially
when there are alternatives, such as the cigarette tax - which
has the added benefit of discouraging young people from smoking.
Why does it make sense to allow the City of Fairfax to raise
the cigarette tax and not Fairfax County? To do this, we need
Richmond to act. I urge all of you to demand this tax reform
from your elected legislators in Richmond.
Rising home prices have impacts beyond the tax
burden on residents. They also mean that increasing numbers
of workers are being priced out of purchasing homes where
they work. As the strong demand for housing continues, prices
for all types of housing, from single family homes to condominiums
has increased.
Affordable housing is one of the most serious
problems facing Fairfax County today. In my inauguration speech
I identified the need to provide affordable housing for our
police, firefighters, teachers and other vital employees as
one of the top priorities for my term as chairman.
In an effort to provide more Affordable Dwelling
Units (ADU's) for citizens of Fairfax County requires developers
to either add ADU's to their plans or contribute to the Housing
Trust Fund in land use cases where developments are large
enough. I am pleased to report that since my term began in
January, we have added 220 ADU's to the county 's housing
stock. But we are losing our existing housing at an alarming
rate. Therefore, I will be launching an Affordable Housing
Preservation Intitative to aid us in our effort to save our
existing stock of affordable housing, including those units
held privately.
Another way of lessening the tax burden on homeowners
is to maintain a good balance between the revenue we receive
from commercial and residential real estate. The Board of
Supervisors has set as a goal that 25 percent of our real
estate taxes come from commercial property. Over the last
two years, however, the entire region has seen the commercial
real estate market soften, significantly reducing the commercial
base in Fairfax from 26 percent to less than 19 percent of
total real estate tax receipts. One way to expand the commercial
tax base is to decrease the amount of
vacant office space, hovering now at around 17 percent, a
4 year supply, and thus decrease the tax burden on residential
homeowners. [See
Chart 3]
Even in the face of these challenges, we have
maintained our Triple-A bond rating, a feat only twenty-three
localities out of the thousands across America have accomplished.
Our high bond rating is not merely a bragging right. It has
enabled us to save almost $300 million for taxpayers over
the last 20 years on capital projects such as police and fire
stations and libraries, because we are able to borrow at a
much lower cost to taxpayers.
Perhaps the largest single factor contributing
to the strength of Fairfax County's economy is our quality
of life. More than anything else, businesses mention quality
of life as the most important factor in deciding to locate
here. Excellent schools, an award-winning park system, a low
crime rate - these are what bring jobs to our area. Our challenge,
again, is balance - continuing to invest in these priorities
while maintaining fiscal prudence.
Of all these priorities, the education of our
children is number one. More than fifty-three percent of our
General Fund goes toward education. What do we get for that
investment? All 24 Fairfax County high schools were ranked
among the nation's top performing high schools by Newsweek
magazine. Ninety percent of Fairfax County high school graduates
continue on to post-secondary education, much higher than
either the state or national averages. A full 58.3 percent
of graduating seniors in Fairfax go on to advanced degrees,
compared to 46.3 percent for Virginia seniors as a whole.
Our investment in education is paying off.
Of course, here too, there are challenges. Virginia
is one of only a few states that does not contribute to the
construction of schools. This entire burden falls on Fairfax
County taxpayers. Despite devoting the majority of our local
bond sales each year to school construction we still have
too many children - almost 15,000 - going to class in trailers.
We must insist our lawmakers in Richmond change that inequity.
This year, the county increased the transfer
to the school system by 5.95 percent, or $69.6 million more
than the year before. But the state only provides 22% of the
cost to educate a child in Fairfax County. The county cannot
continue to make up for the state's lack of funding for our
public schools. We must work together with the governor and
the General Assembly to ensure that Fairfax gets its fair
share of education funding.
Fairfax County has long been one of the safest
jurisdictions in the country. Our homicide rate in 2003 was
the lowest of the 30 largest jurisdictions in the United States.
Our overall crime rate was the lowest of the 50 largest jurisdictions.
At the same time, we have one of the lowest police officer
per capita ratios in the country. This is a reflection
of the outstanding work our men and women in the Police Department
and Sheriff's Office do, day in and day out. [See
Chart 4] We must maintain that level of safety and
security.
One of the few clouds on that bright horizon
is the rise of gang activity in the region. There are 70 to
80 gangs active in our area. Just one, MS13, has recruited
1,300 members in Fairfax County alone. Gangs not only represent
a threat to our public safety, but they threaten the well-being
of our children. We must combat the problem of gangs and prevent
our children from undertaking this destructive and dangerous
lifestyle. I am gratified that two initiatives which I have
proposed to deal with this issue have been unanimously endorsed
by the Board of Supervisors, and plans are underway to implement
them. Later this year we will host a gang summit to identify
additional actions the County can take to control this problem.
We are continuing our public safety efforts
in other areas as well. To address the needs of our growing
population, we will be opening two new fire stations in the
western part of the county. Fairfax County's fire and rescue
team is truly among the best in the country.
The county's Urban Search and Rescue team's
humanitarian and relief work during the devastating earthquake
in Iran this year is only the latest example of the caliber
of our firefighters. Using 100 percent federal funding, the
Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department has created one
of the world's premiere Urban Search and Rescue teams. It
was this training which made our first responders so effective
when called by FEMA to respond to the Pentagon on September
11. It is a comfort to know that in the event of an emergency,
we have the benefit of one of the world's premier rescue teams
right here at home. To keep that force strong we must also
work on improving the training and retention of critical EMS
workers, and we will do that.
In addition, our homeland security preparedness
efforts have been enhanced through the addition of our Community
Emergency Response Team or CERT program which has a rapidly
expanding group of citizens trained to respond in emergencies
throughout the County. This, coupled with a professional office
of Emergency Management and a centralized emergency operations
center, means that the County is far better equipped to respond
to any emergency that might arise than it was in the years
preceding September 11th.
The year 2003 also brought Hurricane Isabel
to our area. Our police and fire fighters responded admirably
to ensure the safety of residents.
There were sobering reminders as well. Isabel
knocked out both of Fairfax County's water treatment plants,
suspending water pressure and service to residents for several
hours, something which has never happened before. Installing
back-up generators for our water system as well as other innovative
solutions are under active consideration and have been approved
by the Fairfax County Water Authority and presented to the
Board of Supervisors. These include using the power generated
at the county's refuse facility, a cutting edge environmental
project built to transform garbage into electricity. The loss
of electricity and the subsequent shut-down of the County's
water supply was a reminder of our vulnerability to both natural
and terrorist threats and of the need for continuing investments
in emergency preparedness.
I am particularly proud of the Board's environmental
stewardship. Fairfax County has been certified by the Chesapeake
Bay Program as a Gold Chesapeake Bay Partner Community, one
of only a handful of 1600 jurisdictions in the watershed to
receive the Gold certification. Certification is based on
meeting a set of goals that support the protection and restoration
of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, including improving water
quality, promoting sound land use, protecting and restoring
living resources and habitat, and involving the community.
Currently, we are in the process of studying our watersheds
to improve water quality, stormwater mitigation and stream
restoration in an environmentally responsible way.
Clean air is another challenge we're meeting.
The county has begun using ultra-low sulfur diesel buses and
trucks in the place of normal diesel vehicles to improve emissions.
Additionally, we've begun purchasing lower emission hybrid
vehicles to replace some existing county vehicles, and we
continue to subsidize free Connector and Metrobus rides during
Code-Red, Ozone Action days.
There are some sources over which we have little
control, from pollution that blows in from Ohio River Valley
power stations to trucks traveling through the region on interstate
roads. But where we can, we must act. Fairfax County leads
the region in teleworking, which can have a significant, positive
effect on traffic congestion and air quality. This year we
will expand our effort to bring major employers throughout
the region into this effort. Fairfax will host WACOT - the
Washington Area Conference on Telework later this Fall.
There is no easy fix to traffic congestion,
but providing choices is critical. I was pleased that the
Board of Supervisors unanimously approved my proposal for
a comprehensive transportation program. The plan is a balance
of specific transit, pedestrian and road projects to be undertaken
over the next four years. It commits $100 million to specific
projects, funded through future funding sources and $50 million
in new bond sales. Now that we have an adopted plan, we will
be partnering with the Virginia Department of Transportation
to complete these projects in a timely fashion. In light of
the General Assembly's failure to provide transportation funding
this year, our program is more critical than ever.
Extending Metrorail service through Tysons Corner
to the Dulles Corridor is one of the most important transportation
improvements we can make. The Board of Supervisors has just
taken an important step by voting to accept the petition of
landowners to create a commercial tax district to pay the
local share for construction of the first phase of this new
rail line. This tax will be paid by businesses in the district,
not residents.
Current projections show that Metrorail service
from Tysons Corner through to Reston, the first phase of the
project, will serve 56,000 riders when it begins. Once the
project is extended through Herndon and out to the Dulles
Corridor and Loudoun County, the project will serve over 86,000
riders each day; the equivalent of four additional lanes on
the toll road. As the Dulles Corridor economy continues to
expand, we need to be ready with the mass transit to serve
it.
Completing the final segment of the Fairfax
County Parkway is another major transportation project that
we must focus on in the coming year. The parkway has been
an important alternative to the beltway for north and south
travel in Fairfax and will be another piece in improving our
air quality as well.
Another challenge has been to balance the growth
brought by our prosperity with the need to preserve the natural
environment and quality of life in Fairfax. I am very proud
that over the last six years we have added roughly 6,011 acres
of land, including 1,158.4 acres to the Park Authority in
2003, bringing our total up to 22,814.3 acres. [See
Chart 5] This doesn't include
park land owned by private non-profit conservation groups,
the state, or the federal government. Currently, there is
no place in Fairfax County that is more than five miles away
from a park.
In June 2002, Fairfax County acquired the former
Lorton prison complex and we are in the process of transforming
it into an area called Laurel Hill. We have preserved over
1600 acres of parkland, and are now developing a plan to adaptively
reuse many of the over 300 historic buildings, including the
home of Revolutionary War patriot, William Lindsay. The redevelopment
of Lorton into Laurel Hill offers us great promise, as well
as a daunting challenge to carefully plan the area for the
maximum benefit of our citizens. Identifying funding sources
for this important project presents another major challenge.
As land becomes scarce, the need to invest in
preservation becomes more pressing. If we don't make these
investments now, the opportunity will not come again.
Perhaps our greatest challenge is the need to
continue making these investments while providing homeowners
with tax relief.
Recognizing this, the Board
of Supervisors has cut 7 cents from the property tax rate
in the last two years; one of the largest tax rate cut in
our history. [See
Chart 6] I am committed to cutting the tax rate again
this year. In addition, the Board of Supervisors increased
tax relief for senior citizens and the disabled last year,
and we will keep our promise to increase the relief this year
by raising the required asset cap to the maximum amount the
state allows. Over the last three years, we have cut $104
million from the county's budget. The direct expenditures
for the Fiscal Year 2004 Budget were a 1 percent decrease
from FY2003, and we cut a net of 73 positions from county
departments. Since 1991, the county has grown in population
by 26 percent and has opened 150 new facilities, including
fire stations, police stations, teen centers and libraries.
In the same time period, the county has added a net increase
of only 91 staff positions. [See
Chart 7] It was this frugality which enabled us to
enact one of the largest tax rate cut in the county's history
over the last two years. As long as property values grow and
create double-digit tax increases, we must continue to address
this burden on our residents. I have already announced that
I will not vote for any budget this year which does not include
additional property tax relief.
The state of Fairfax County is strong. We are
truly the envy of most other jurisdictions in the United States.
But we cannot take that for granted. It will require our constant
vigilance, effort and investment to ensure that Fairfax County
continues to be a great place to live, work and play. Our
citizens have long been known for their volunteer efforts
in the county, whether in non-profit organizations, or county-sponsored
advisory boards or commissions. As Fairfax County continues
to grow more diverse, we must continue to celebrate that diversity
while also integrating new residents into our community. We
cannot operate without our citizens' input, time, help and
commitment to Fairfax. We all must remain as committed in
the coming year to the challenges that we face as we continue
to maintain and improve the state of Fairfax County.
Thank you and good night.
