At the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, County Executive Edward L. Long Jr. presented his proposed Fiscal Year 2014 budget, including a multi-year FY14-FY15 budget plan. He proposed a general fund budget of $3.59 billion for the fiscal year beginning July 1, a decrease of 0.37 percent from the FY13 revised budget. Still the budget proposes a two-cent increase in the real estate property tax primarily to fund increases to the transfer to the Fairfax County Public Schools and public safety.

The recommended transfer to the schools’ operations is $1.72 billion, an increase of two percent. The proposed budget includes the fact that 71 percent of residential properties in the county experience an assessment increase, offsetting a 0.14 percent decrease in commercial property assessments. County Board Chair Sharon Bulova issued a statement saying “the advertised budget reflects the difficult economic situation we are still experiencing. We are not yet out of the woods as we recover more slowly than we would like from the Great Recession.” After a series of public hearings in March and April, the County Board will adopt the FY 2014 budget on April 30.