Watchdog of the Taxpayer's Dollar Since 1956 Fairfax VA

The FAIRFAX COUNTY TAXPAYERS ALLIANCE Home Email Alerts Press Releases Testimony Taxpayer Links Join FCTA About Us Bulletins FCTA in the News Trend Graphs Letters to Editor Support Us

(Please refer to graphs below.)

WHEREAS of the $50,000 annual income required for a family of four (two adults, a preschool child, and a school-age child) to live in Fairfax County, the top two expenses are childcare ($15,000) and taxes ($11,000), and taxes now cost more than housing, food, or transportation;

WHEREAS since 1975 the Fairfax County Public Schools full-time staff has increased four times faster than enrollment and the county non-school staff has increased twice as fast as population;

WHEREAS since 1975 per-student spending, adjusted for inflation, in Fairfax County Public Schools has increased 100 percent, thus giving the schools an extra $700 million annually;

WHEREAS despite the extra $700 million, standardized test scores have remained flat;

WHEREAS since 1975 county non-school spending, adjusted for inflation, per resident has increased 75 percent, giving the county an extra $400 million per year;

WHEREAS both the county supervisors and school board have neglected infrastructure and used the extra $1.1 billion primarily to expand programs; and

And WHEREAS neither the supervisors nor the school board have identified which programs received the extra $1.1 billion and demonstrated the cost-effectiveness of these programs;

THEREFORE BE IT

RESOLVED that the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance opposes a recently proposed $144 million increase in the sales tax (from 4.5 percent to 5.5 percent);

RESOLVED that the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance requests both the supervisors and school board to identify and show measurable results for ALL programs receiving the extra $1.1 billion in tax and spending increases since 1975; and

RESOLVED that the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance requests that $144 million be reallocated from the least effective programs to school and road construction.