Wise Budgeteering in Fairfax

IT SEEMED unavoidable a few weeks ago that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors would clash over the county's budget. The 10-member board was set to grapple with the largest shortfall in the county's history and one of the worst in the region. Complicating matters, the new chairman, Sharon Bulova (D), had just edged out Supervisor Pat S. Herrity (R-Springfield) in a tense election; John C. Cook, a Republican critical of the county's spending, proceeded to win Ms. Bulova's Braddock District seat. Yet Ms. Bulova was able to emerge from the shadow of Gerald E. Connolly, her voluble predecessor, to craft an effective, unanimously approved compromise that protects human services and public safety without raising taxes.

The county acted on its shortfall early, reviewing spending to root out inefficiencies and holding community meetings to solicit resident feedback. The result: a $3.3 billion fiscal 2010 budget that closes a $650 million gap by cutting 300 positions, holding school funding flat and eliminating pay increases for county employees. The property tax rate will increase by 13 cents to $1.05 per $100 of assessed value, but because of declining values most homeowners will pay about the same, or a little less, than they did last year.

A key pressure point was the county's roughly $20 million initiative to purchase or maintain affordable housing, a program both Mr. Herrity and Mr. Cook campaigned against. Many thought that Ms. Bulova would levy a $25 car tax or increase the fee for children to use the county's sports facilities to protect the housing program, a signature initiative. Instead, Ms. Bulova chose to forgo the fees and slash the housing program in half to the minimum needed to maintain units the county already owns. With the county paring projects across the board, Ms. Bulova rightly decided that affordable housing, while worthwhile, would have to be part of the sacrifice. That made some of her Democratic colleagues uneasy, but it was a fiscally prudent choice and a key reason the three Republican board members, two of whom opposed last year's budget, supported the proposal.

Ms. Bulova, who sought out colleagues' input in individual meetings, proved that her consensus-driven style as the board's leader could produce results. The Republicans on the board, Mr. Herrity in particular, proved that they could play a constructive role in crafting county policy and be more than just oppositional to the board's Democratic majority.

Fairfax has a reputation as one of the best-managed jurisdictions in the region. The way the county's elected officials handled a challenging budget shows why.