of the Taxpayer's Dollar Since 1956
Fairfax VA
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Watchdog of the Taxpayer's Dollar Since 1956 Fairfax VA |
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The Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance is posting 1000 "The Connolly Years" yard signs prior to this November's supervisor elections. The signs have a graph showing that residential real estate taxes increased ten percent per year during the first three years of the current term of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors chairman, Gerry Connolly. Mr. Connolly boasts that the supervisors have reduced the real estate tax rate from $1.23 in 2002 to a record low of 89 cents today, a 38 percent decrease. He states, "The board has put a lot of money in the taxpayers' pocket." He does not mention that over the same period the average residential real estate assessment increased 177 percent (from $196,000 to $543,000), more than offsetting the token reduction in the real estate tax rate. Actually, residential real estate taxes increased at an average annual rate of ten percent over a seven-year period, between 2000 and 2007. Get your signs at the luncheon, below. |
Between 2000 and 2007, real estate taxes for the typical Fairfax County homeowner doubled. Residential real estate taxes increased ten percent each year, while homeowner incomes were increasing only two percent per year.
The Virginia General Assembly talked about tax relief. It did the opposite.
In 2004 the General Assembly increased sales taxes
Although the Assembly also eliminated the marriage penalty and lowered the sales tax on food, tax increases exceeded tax decreases by $1.4 billion.
In 2006, the General Assembly did eliminate the estate tax. However, in 2007, the General Assembly completely offset the elimination of the estate tax by increasing
and imposing
The 2007 General Assembly approved another $400 million in tax increases for Northern Virginia. It authorized increased
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and imposed new
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The grantor's tax, which is paid by the seller of a house, increased 400 percent. Auto repairs will have a five-percent tax. The Northern Virginia Transportation Authority has already enacted all but the commercial real estate tax hike and the property-improvement fees, which the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will vote on next year.
The 2007 transportation bill passed by the General Assembly (House Bill 3202) authorized regional tax increases for Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. When Governor Kaine amended the bill, his amendments required a majority of boards of supervisors in both regions to approve the regional tax increases. However the final version of HB3202 passed by the General Assembly and signed by the governor kept the requirement for Hampton Roads boards of supervisors to approve the tax hikes but removed that requirement for Northern Virginia. Even though the requirement was dropped, the Prince William County supervisors voted on it but the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors did not.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Board:
The Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance urges you to vote against higher taxes and fees and instead fund transportation from already-soaring tax revenues.
Between 2000 and 2007, Fairfax County real estate taxes increased at an average rate of ten percent per year. Over the same period, household incomes were increasing only two percent per year.
Inflation-adjusted Virginia General Fund revenues have been increasing eight to ten times faster than population.
You are taxing parents out of the home. In 2005 Wider Opportunities for Women (WOW) published a survey of living expenses in the DC area. It found that for a Fairfax County two-parent family with two school age children, taxes and childcare accounted for nearly half of the family's expenses.
Half of American women with children under 18 have full-time jobs. According to the Pew Research Center, only 20 percent of women with children under 18 regard full-time work as the ideal.
The Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development says that subsidized housing is available for families whose income is at or below the County’s median income. If half of Fairfax County families possibly need help paying for housing, high can they afford higher taxes?
Where are the already soaring county and state taxes being spent?
In the county, real estate tax increases give county employees higher raises and better pensions than taxpayers get. While taxpayer incomes were increasing two percent annually, county employees were getting five-percent raises. County employees get generous defined-benefit pensions while the private sector is losing theirs.
The job market knows this. The schools have 12 applicants for each job opening while the county has fifty applicants for each job opening.
Public-school and healthcare spending dominate Virginia's soaring tax revenues. For decades public school staff has been increasing five times faster than enrollment. The results? According to the National Center of Education Statistics 60 to 65 percent of Virginia school children achieve below grade level. Mandated programs are poorly managed. Low-income children are not getting an education. When the Alliance asked the Fairfax County school superintendent what percentage of Learning-Disabled children is successfully remediated before 12th grade, he said he did not know.
Who is managing Medicaid? Since 1986, the number of Medicaid recipients has increased five times faster than population. Medicaid payments, adjusted for the Consumer Price Index, have increased twice as fast as the number of recipients. The Alliance asked the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (DMAS) to explain why Medicaid payments are increasing faster than enrollment. Here is the answer from the DMAS Information Office: "We administer a Medicaid program, but do not normally conduct general research on health care cost inflation. Therefore, we do not know what inflation factor would be best for your purpose, and we do not have answers to the other questions you asked. We regret that we are not able to help you further."
We asked the General Assembly's Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC) the same question. Their answer: "We collect no data on Medicaid on any ongoing basis. Our annual spending report relies on the annual 'Statistical Report' from the Department of Medical Assistance Services."
If you do not govern school and healthcare budgets you will never have enough money for transportation.
Do not sell bonds. Fairfax County sells bonds every year. The result is that every year the county spends more on debt service than it raises from bond sales. For that, the county has a $2.5 billion debt. If Fairfax County had not sold bonds, it would have been able to spend more on capital projects and have no debt. Pay as you go.
The Authority has identified $1,750 million of short-term transportation priorities, of which $750 million is for Metrorail. The remaining $1 billion will be needed for overruns on the Dulles rail project.
Government has never adequately funded maintenance for the existing rail system, and the community opposes high-density development at Metro stations. Remember the terrorist attacks on commuter trains in London, Madrid, and Mumbai (formerly Bombay)? Wouldn't it be wiser, more affordable and more effective to build roads?
Finally, while the Prince William County Board of Supervisors voted on the regional tax hikes, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has not. We would like to ask the Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors why he has not had that board vote on these hikes. We were told that Governor Kaine had amended the transportation bill to require board-of-supervisor votes. Surprisingly, that language was deleted from the bill for Northern Virginia but left in for the Hampton Roads Transportation Authority.
In conclusion, if you manage school and health care spending, maintain equity between taxpayer and government raises and pensions, choose pay-as-you go funding instead of bonds, and choose roads over rail, you could more generously fund transportation than you will with the tax hikes being considered here tonight.
Thank you.
In recent years an increasing number of Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) seniors have been taking the ACT college admissions test. Most FCPS and Virginia seniors take the more commonly known SAT. In 2005 1421 FCPS and 10,806 Virginia students took the ACT; in 2007, 2,144 FCPS and 14,653 Virginia students took the ACT.
Whereas the SAT tests three categories - verbal, math, and a writing sample, the ACT tests four areas - English, math reading, and science.
The SAT score in each subject ranges from 400 minimum to 800 maximum. The ACT scores range from 1 to 36.
A more interesting difference is that the ACT, unlike the SAT, states the score in each category that a student must achieve to succeed in college. The ACT calls these “benchmark” scores.
The ACT defines the benchmark scores as follows:
"A benchmark score is the minimum score needed on an ACT subject-area test to indicate a 50% chance of obtaining a B or higher or about a 75% chance of obtaining a C or higher in the corresponding credit-bearing college courses, which include English Composition, Algebra, Social Science and Biology. These scores were empirically derived based on the actual performance of students in college."
The ACT College Readiness Benchmark scores are:
The ACT 2007 High School Profile Report for the 2007 graduating class in Virginia reports the percentage of Virginia students who achieved the benchmark level or higher for each test:
They are:
The ACT 2007 Virginia report then gives the percentage of test takers who achieved the benchmark levels in all four categories. That percentage is 23 percent.
For the first time Fairfax County Public Schools reported ACT results in their annual press release with the SAT results. The school system did not mention the benchmark scores and did not report the percentage of FCPS students achieving the benchmark scores. It did report the FCPS average ACT scores:
FCPS students' average ACT scores are above the ACT college benchmarks in English, math, and reading. However, the FCPS average score in science of 22.2 is well below the ACT benchmark for science, which is 24.
It is interesting to compare the ACT benchmark results to the results of the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), which tests a sampling of4th and 8th graders in every state. The NAEP reports that 35 to 40 percent of Virginia students achieve at or above grade level. The ACT reports that 23 percent of Virginia seniors are prepared to succeed in college.
Prior to the Board of Supervisors budget hearings, the FCTA and NorthernVirginiaGOP.com, run by Jim Parmelee, hold a joint taxpayer rally to protest Fairfax County's excessive taxation.
The rally is held in front of the Government Center on a Monday night, usually at 6:30 p.m.. It is an inconvenient time for most commuters and the turnout is usually too small, about only 20-30 people. However we usually get some favorable press coverage, and after the rally we attend the start of the budget hearings to support taxpayer speakers. Applause from 20-30 people in the boardroom is substantive and reminds the supervisors that acceptance of their tax hikes is not unanimous. We sincerely thank those who make the sacrifice to attend and be counted, and we thank Jim Parmelee for his enthusiasm and bullhorn!
The following is the testimony given at the hearing by the FCTA president.
Mr. Chairman and Members of the Board:
Local and state government is big business.
According to the Rockefeller Institute of Government, state and local governments employ more workers than any other sector of the economy, more than retail, manufacturing, hospitality, finance, and construction.
It's expensive.
Between 2000 and 2007 the Supervisors raised Fairfax County real estate taxes at an average annual rate of ten percent. Over that period, real estate taxes for the typical Fairfax County homeowner, doubled, from about $2400 to $4830.
However, the Supervisors are leaving real estate taxes at about the same level as last year, resulting in a real estate tax rate of 89 cents.
The result is that while County General Fund revenues increased at an average annual rate of seven percent between 2000 and 2007, the Supervisors are suddenly willing to live with a revenue increase of under three percent next year.
We wish that you had exercised this restraint over the last seven years.
If you had, for example, raised the real estate tax bill at the same rate as inflation, the average real estate tax would be $3100 instead of $4800.
The real estate tax rate would be 57 cents instead of 89 cents.
Given that you are keeping the average tax at $4800, you are getting an extra $650 million a year.
Where did this money go?
The Taxpayer Alliance attempted to answer this question, and here is what we found: Almost three-quarters was spent on raises and employee benefits for school and county employees.
Based on a spreadsheet provided to the FCTA by the Fairfax County Department of Management and Budget on 10/25/06, the average annual raise for county non-school employees between 2000 and 2007 was 5 percent.
Similarly, based on a spreadsheet provided to the FCTA by the Fairfax County Public Schools Office of Community Relations on 4/12/06, the average annual raise for teachers was over six percent and 5.5 percent for non-teaching positions.
How much did taxpayer incomes increase over this period?
According to page 12 of the County Executive's Presentation of the FY2008 Advertised Budget, since 2001 income has risen 9 percent.
This, the County tells us, about two percent a year.
We hope that the voters this year will remember the numbers 10 - 5 - 2.
Real estate taxes increased ten percent per year so public-sector salaries could increase five percent per year while taxpayer incomes increased two percent per year.
Since inflation between 2000 and 2007 averaged three percent, in real terms the taxpayers were getting poorer while you increased their taxes.
Higher taxes also paid for employee benefits. In just two years, school spending on employee benefits is increasing by $100 million. A 2/21/07 USA Today article, "Pension gap divides public and private workers" states: "Retired government workers are twice as likely to get a pension as their counterparts in the private sector, and the typical benefit is far more generous."p>
Private-sector workers who are having their pensions replaced by 401Ks and who are losing medical insurance are paying higher taxes so the public sector can keep its pensions and medical insurance.
Job seekers are aware of this. Again, according to statistics provided to the FCTA by Fairfax County Public Schools and Fairfax County, there are 12 applicants for every job opening in the schools and 50 applicants for every job opening in the county.
We think that there should be parity between the salaries and benefits of the public sector and taxpayers.
Between 2000 and 2007, Fairfax County Public Schools increased school staff almost three times faster than enrollment (16 percent compared to 6 percent). We note that the County actually increased staff slower than the increase in County population. For that we commend you. We also note that unlike the schools, the county increased operating costs at a slower rate than population and inflation; this savings offset some of the increase in County salaries and benefits. Paying for generous raises and benefits from savings elsewhere is good.
However, we do not see what benefit is accruing to the classroom from the increase in school staff.
Thank you.
At-Large Directors (Up for election at Oct. 27 meeting)
Arthur Purves
The Hon. David C. F. Ray
Perry Young
Bill Peabody
Fred Costello
Geoff Allen
Stan Reid (new)
Gary Koerner (new)
(one vacancy)
District Directors
Braddock: Tom Blau
Dranesville: Howie Lind
Hunter Mill: David Swink
Lee: vacant
Mason: Jim Turbett
Mount Vernon: vacant
Providence: vacant
Springfield: Bradford Butler
Sully: Chuck McAndrew
Updated October 21, 2007
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