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The $560 million reduction is predicated upon a statement from the Fairfax County Taxpayer’s Alliance that, "While assessments increased over 60 percent in four years, the supervisors made only a token reduction to the tax rate. To eliminate any tax increase arising from the 60 percent increase in residential assessments, the supervisors must set the tax rate at 76 cents, not $1.16."

1) If the full $560 million reduction in revenue was supported through a reduction taken only from the School Operating Transfer, the transfer would need to be cut by approximately 45 percent. The FY 2004 Advertised transfer for School Operating is $1.238 billion. The transfer after the reduction would be $690 million.

• This would take the School Operating Transfer down to a level slightly lower than the amount funded for school operations eight years ago in FY 1996.
• Cut approximately 10,200 school based positions or 54% of the total 18,903 school-based full time positions cited in the FY 2004 School Board Proposed budget.
• For example, the current student to teacher ratio for Elementary School classrooms is 22:1. The reduction in school based positions would double the student to teacher ratio. This would result in non-compliance with State mandates regarding class size and jeopardize funding received from the state.

2) If the full $560 million reduction in revenue was supported through a reduction taken only from County operations, it would equate to the following:

a) A cut of $560 million actually equates to the total budgets of the following agencies:

• Police Department, ($134,240,750 and 1,846 positions, including 1,303 Police Officers)
• Fire & Rescue Department, ($119,406,724 and 1,312 positions)
• Office of the Sheriff, ($48,967,172 and 575 positions)
• Health Department, ($41,473,288)
• Department of Family Services, ($167,812,918) and
• All County support for the E911 center ($7,374,917),
• Additionally, County support for CSB would need to be reduced by approximately 37 percent (Reduction = $30 million).

b) A reduction of $560 million on the County side would equate to the elimination of the following agencies, if Public Safety agencies were excluded:

• All Legislative Executive Agencies ($85,843,030 and 1,039 positions, including the Board of Supervisors and the County Executive’s Office)
• All Public Works Agencies ($52,923,070 and 466 positions)
• All Community Development Agencies ($38,011,449 and 436 positions)
• All Parks, Recreation & Cultural Agencies ($61,516,604 and 951 positions) — this would eliminate the Park Authority, Community & Recreation Services and the Library
• All Judicial Administration Agencies ($26,693,944 and 378 positions) — this would eliminate Circuit Court, General District Court, the Sheriff’s judicial administration function
• All Health & Welfare Agencies ($224,759,631 and 2,068 positions — this includes DFS and the Health Department
• Fringe Benefits of approximately $60 million associated with the positions that are cut

c) If we excluded Schools, and took the $560 million reduction on the County side only, spread equally among agencies, it would equate to the following reductions:

• Legislative Executive/Central Services,
• $35.2 million reduction or 6.4% of the total.
• Total funding would decrease from $85.8 million to $50.6 million
• Includes Board of Supervisors, County Executive, Tax Administration, Finance, Purchasing, Management & Budget
• Judicial Administration,
• $10.9 million reduction or 2.0% of the total,
• Total funding would decrease from $26.7 million to $15.7 million
• Includes Circuit Court, General District Court, Commonwealth’s Attorney, Sheriff (Court Security)
• Public Safety,
• $130.1 million reduction or 23.7% of the total
• Total funding would decrease from $317.3 million to $187.2 million.
• Includes Police, DPWES-Land Development, Juvenile Court, Sheriff (ADC), Fire & Rescue
• Public Works
• $21.7 million reduction or 4% of the total
• Total funding would decrease from $52.9 million to 31.2 million.
• Includes Facilities Management Division, DPWES-Director, Capital Facilities, Stormwater Management
• Health & Welfare
• $92.2 million reduction or 16.8% of the total
• Total funding would decrease from $224.8 million to $132.6 million
• Includes Office for Women, Family Services, Health Department

• Parks, Recreation & Cultural
• $25.2 million reduction or 4.6% of the total
• Total funding would decrease from $61.5 million to $36.3 million
• Includes Park, Recreation, Library
• Community Development
• $15.6 million reduction or 2.8% of the total
• Total funding would decrease from $38.0 million to $22.4 million.
• Includes EDA, Planning & Zoning, Housing, Human Rights, Transportation
• Debt Service (County & Schools)
• $90.2 million reduction or 16.4% of the total
• Total transfer to debt service would decrease from $220.0 million to $129.8 million
• The transfer to the debt service funds represents the County’s requirements based on bonds sold to date and anticipated bonds and the legal obligations the County has to meet the debt service payments. To achieve $21 million in savings the county would have to eliminate all future bond sales. No further reductions beyond the $21 million level would be possible in debt service.
• CSB
• $32.9 million reduction or 6.0% of the total
• Total transfer to the CSB would decrease from $80.3 million to $47.4 million
• Includes funding for Mental Health treatment programs, Alcohol & Drug Services, and Mental Retardation programs.
• E911 (Public Safety Communications Center)
• $3.0 million reduction or 0.5% of the total
• Total transfer to the PSCC would decrease from $7.4 million to $4.4 million.
• County Transit
• $8.3 million reduction or 1.5% of the total
• Total transfer to Transit would decrease from $20.3 million to $12.0 million
• Metro
• $6.7 million reduction or 1.2% of the total
• Total transfer to Metro would decrease from $16.4 million to $9.7 million
• All Other Disbursements
• $76.8 million reduction or 14.0% of the total
• All other disbursements would decrease from $187.4 million to $110.5 million
• Includes Local Cash Match for Grants, Aging Programs, Elderly Housing, Contributories, Consolidated Community Funding Pool, Capital Paydown, and Fringe Benefits

3) If the full $560 million reduction in revenue was shared by both the County and Schools and spread proportionally, based on the amounts budgeted for each of the agencies and funds as part of the FY 2004 Advertised Budget Plan it would result in the following reductions. For example, the School Operating Transfer is 48% of total disbursements FY 2004 Advertised disbursements, therefore the School Operating transfer would take a corresponding share of the reduction. Note: this does not take into account any revenue losses that may occur as a result of the reduction in direct expenditures.

School Operating Transfer Reduction = $263.8 million or approximately 48% of the total reduction. The transfer to the School Operating Fund would decrease from $1.238 billion to $975 million. Note: This would reduce the School Operating Transfer to a level slightly lower than the amount funded for school operations in FY 2001. This equates to abolishing approximately 4,900 school based positions or 26 percent of the total projected school-based full time positions. For example, the current student to teacher ratio for Elementary School classrooms is 22:1. The reduction in school based positions would increase the student to teacher ratio by approximately 40 percent. This would result in a student to teacher ratio at the state mandated cap and could jeopardize funding received from the state.

Police would need to cut $28.6 million which equates to abolishing 454 police officers or 35 percent of the 1,303 sworn positions in the agency, or closing 3 of the 8 Police Stations.

Fire & Rescue would need to cut $25.4 million which equates to abolishing 470 firefighters/fire technicians or 36 percent of the 1,312 positions in the agency, or closing approximately 7 of the 35 stations.

Family Services would need to cut approximately $35.7 million which equates to the complete elimination of the Comprehensive Services Act (CSA) program which provides mandated and non-mandated services for 1,250 children; CCAP services to 575 low income children and families, the Healthy Families program which provides services for 604 families, the Foster Care program which serves 700 children, elimination of 27 SACC classrooms which equates to loss of service for 810 children, and would eliminate the agencies ability to respond to approximately 2,200 reports of suspected child abuse,

The Health Department would need to cut approximately $8.8 million which equates to the elimination of the Clinic Room Aides program which is estimated to provide 1 million visits to assist with sick and injured children and provide medications to children in the Fairfax County Public Schools in FY 2004, and reduce funding for the Community Health Care Network, which provides primary health care for low income, uninsured County residents, by 50%.

Fairfax County Public Library would need to cut approximately $6.0 million which equates to the closure of 6 or 50 percent of the 12 Community libraries, or 3 or 37.5 percent of the 8 Regional Libraries.

Community & Recreation Services would need to cut approximately $2.4 million which equates to the elimination of all 6 Community Centers and 1 Multicultural Center, or the elimination of all 9 teen centers and all Senior Services

CSB would need to cut approximately $17.1 million which equates to the elimination of all Mental Health out-patient and case management services, all Alcohol & Drug prevention, early intervention, and emergency services, and all Mental Retardation residential services.

Debt Service would need to eliminate all new County and Schools bond sales to generate a savings of $21 million. It should be noted that, the total reduction required based on a proportional spread is $46.9 million.

• All debt service requirements after the $21 million reduction are based on bonds sold to date and the legal obligations the County has to meet the debt service payments. No further reductions beyond the $21 million level would be possible in debt service.

PSCC would need to cut $1.6 million in County support which equates to abolishing 27 call taker/dispatch positions or 25 percent of the total 107 authorized call taker/dispatch positions. Note: The current average speed to answer for emergency is 6 seconds, non-emergency is 35 seconds. The loss of positions would result in a dramatic increase in the speed to answer.

County Transit would need to cut approximately $4.3 million in County support which equates to a reduction of approximately 20 percent of the CONNECTOR operating subsidy which would result in a corresponding reduction in route service.

Metro would need to cut approximately $3.5 million in County support which equates to a reduction in funding for the County’s jurisdictional commitment to fund its share of WMATA annual operating budget. This reduction could result in fare increases.

All Other Reductions = $85.7 million or approximately 15% of the total reduction. This includes all Legislative Executive/Central Services Agencies, Judicial Administration, Public Works, Community Development, Fringe Benefits, and Local Cash Match for Grants.

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Updated November 28, 2003