A Penny For Your Thoughts

County officials are watching the attempts of the General Assembly to craft a state budget with a mixture of shock and awe. Shock that we may face having to adopt our local budgets without knowing what state revenues to anticipate, and awe that the House and Senate plans are so far apart that the delegates and senators can’t, or won’t, reach common ground. In Fairfax County, state revenues make up less than three percent of our total budget (not including state support for schools), but that equates to at least five cents on the real estate tax rate. Smaller counties that rely more heavily on state revenues are in worse straits. There is the very real possibility that all local jurisdictions will have to adopt their budgets without knowing what revenues will be allocated for state-mandated programs.

In the meantime, the Fairfax County Homeless Oversight Committee presented its annual report to the Board of Supervisors on Monday. The report may be their last. No, they have not eliminated homelessness, but a more inclusive and effective structure for addressing affordable housing issues is being prepared for the future.

The report outlined three critical needs: development of a fourth family shelter, adding beds for victims of domestic violence, and a strategic plan to better coordinate delivery of services for medically fragile homeless persons. A fourth family shelter site has been selected and, last week, the Board named the shelter for former Board Chairman Katherine K. Hanley, who led the fight for the shelter. Additional beds for victims of domestic violence, usually women and their children, were authorized in a previous budget, and a new county-wide Domestic Violence Prevention, Policy, and Coordinating Council will help address the needs from this specific cause of dislocation. Finally, a special committee will report later this year about the shelter needs and effective service delivery methods for medically vulnerable individuals and families.

Of immediate concern is the Bush Administration’s proposal to reduce substantially funding for the Section 8 Choice Voucher program. If enacted, this proposal could affect as many as 375 families in Fairfax County, and overwhelm the coordinated local services for the homeless. Reducing the federal financial role would unfairly burden local governments with yet another unfunded mandate, according to the report. The Board agreed to remind our Congressional delegation of the adverse local impact the Bush/HUD proposal would have on Fairfax County.

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It was my great pleasure to attend the Greater Falls Church Chamber of Commerce Dinner on Saturday night, and I want to congratulate Nick Benton, of the Falls Church News-Press, for earning the Chamber’s Pillar of the Community Award for the second time. Good work, Nick!