Virginia Politics Blog Archive: Fairfax County Board of Supervisors

Fairfax libraries set to lay off 107 employees

The Fairfax County Public Library is set to lay off 107 full- and part-time employees to help close a $4 million budget gap next year, officials told library staffers Wednesday. The affected departments within the library system would include library administration and operations and technical operations. Under the proposal approved by the library's governing board at its meeting Tuesday night, library hours would also be scaled back on Fridays. Library employees argue that in the economic downturn, libraries have become a haven for the homeless and jobless and that county officials, in their attempts to not close branches for one day during the week or shutter entire facilities, have sought deep personnel cuts instead. "The largest reduction is in our branches," said Nancy Klein, president of the library employees' association. "Granted, that's where the largest pool of workers comes from but that's also the majority of our public services is...

Fairfax gearing up for federal illegal immigrant checks at jails

Fairfax County officials are pushing to get the local sheriff to hurry up and institute a new federal program that will automate illegal immigrant fingerprint checks at local jails. "Immigration reform and enforcement is an extremely sensitive and complex federal issue but one with very real local impact, and one this board should have a detailed discussion on soon," said Supervisor Patrick S. Herrity (R-Springfield). "One area where I think we all do agree is that those who are here illegally and commit serious or violent crimes should be removed from the community and deported." This past fall, Herrity asked Fairfax County Sheriff Stan Barry about the Secure Communities program, a federal effort to streamline fingerprint checks on suspected illegal immigrants arrested on suspicion of other crimes. Barry said his office's application to the federal 287(g) program -- essentially a local agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to hold and...

Fairfax Employees' Union Starts Contest to Save Money

Facing a massive county budget shortfall next year, Fairfax County's employee union is sponsoring an unusual contest to find the best idea to save taxpayer money. The Everybody Wins contest (no connection to the reading mentor program of the same name) will award $500 to the Fairfax employee with the best idea, and the Fairfax County Government Employees Union has pledged $5,000 in seed money to the county to institute the idea. "These are the folks who are on the front lines of public services," said Karen Conchar, the president of the Fairfax union and an engineer at the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services. "They know exactly how taxpayer dollars are spent and where there could be savings." Fairfax County officials announced in July that they are expecting a $315.6 million shortfall in 2011, which could mean significant cuts and the consolidation of more than 50 county agencies....

Fairfax Gets Enough Signatures for Dulles Rail Tax

Fairfax County has scrapped together enough signatures of landowners to create a special tax district, the "missing piece" in the public-funding plan for 23 miles of Metro stations from Reston to Dulles International Airport and beyond, officials said Thursday. An announcement is scheduled for Friday. "I'm delighted. This brings us another step closer to having stations in the Herndon-Reston area as part of rail to Dulles," said Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova (D). The Western Alliance for Rail to Dulles, a nonprofit group made up of Fairfax landowners, has worked to collect a 51 percent majority of affected landowners to create the tax district, which would pay for about $330 million in capital funding for the project. To implement the district, the group needs support from either a majority of the affected landowners or from owners controlling a majority of the land in the area. The petition...

'Fairfax's Own' Pays Homage

Bob McDonnell's visit to a Fairfax County GOP breakfast pep rally yesterday was a homecoming of sorts. The Burke Fire Department hall was surrounded with those familiar "Fairfax's Own" signs, and the more than 300 activists getting pumped over coffee and pancakes were more than happy to claim him as their own. But the visit also offered an acknowledgement of the role the county has played this year in reviving Republican hopes after a morale-crushing few years in the once-red state. McDonnell, who leads Democrat R. Creigh Deeds in the polls, gave a particular shout-out to Fairfax supervisors Pat Herrity and John Cook, whose better-than-expected performances in a couple of elections (along with the success of Republican Frank Fannon and GOP-endorsed independent Alicia Hughes in Alexandria and a close House of Delegates special election in Arlington) helped create momentum for Virginia Republicans this year. ""Pat Herrity and John Cook, the...

Fairfax Urges Kaine to Re-Start HOT Lane Project

Fairfax County leaders are urging state officials to restart their plan to build express lanes on two traffic-clogged highways in Northern Virginia, saying the delay or termination of the I-395/95 HOT lane project would exacerbate a "commuting nightmare" for Beltway residents. In a letter dated Tuesday to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova (D) wrote that county officials had "very grave reservations" about the HOT lanes project delay, asking that the state re-evaluate its decision. The I-395/95 HOT lanes would extend south from the Pentagon to Massaponax in Spotsylvania County, intersecting the Beltway at the Springfield interchange. Construction was to have begun by next summer. (Check out What's Next for Virginia's HOT Lanes by Dr. Gridlock)...

Older Entries in This Category »

Rumors Untrue, Say Hudgins, Hyland, Sandhya Somashekhar , June 25, 2009

Anthony Bedell for RPV Chairman?, Sandhya Somashekhar , April 7, 2009

Dems Blast Cook Speech, Sandhya Somashekhar , March 25, 2009

Weather No Excuse, Sandhya Somashekhar , January 31, 2009

Connolly, Firefighters Continue a Beautiful Friendship, Bill Turque , March 21, 2008

Fairfax Budget Gets Political in a Hurry, Bill Turque , February 27, 2008

Fairfax Supervisors Assess the Damage, Bill Turque , February 26, 2008

Fairfax Board Retreats From Retreat, Bill Turque , February 5, 2008

Power Struggle on the Fairfax Board, Bill Turque , January 16, 2008

"D" Is for Democrat and Dollars, Steve Fehr , January 4, 2008

McKay Taps Barker Operative for Lee, Bill Turque , December 20, 2007

McConnell's Imperial Send-Off, Bill Turque , December 19, 2007

NoVa Still Hillary Country, Bill Turque , December 10, 2007

Did Fairfax Immigration Report Migrate Past Nov. 6?, Bill Turque , November 29, 2007

Fairfax On Guard Against Black Beaked Canadians, Bill Turque , November 20, 2007

Did Herrity's Dad Make Developers Jump?, Steve Fehr , October 31, 2007

The Long Memory of Cyrus Katzen, Steve Fehr , October 25, 2007

Sharon Bulova, Teamster, Steve Fehr , October 25, 2007

Connolly and LBJ, Continued, Steve Fehr , October 17, 2007

Fairfax Dems Say Baise's Gloom, Doom Won't Sell, washingtonpost.com editors , September 19, 2007

Connolly Endorsed by Green Groups, Steve Fehr , September 17, 2007