Editor: My wife and I have been homeowners and taxpayers in Fairfax County since 1968. We are retired and living on a fixed income. Therefore, I wish to protest the increases in real-estate taxes in the Fairfax County government’s proposed budget.
Between 2000 and 2020, real-estate taxes have increased approximately three times the inflation rate and household income. This year, my assessment increased 12.84 percent and the Board of Supervisors has advertised keeping the real estate tax rate at $1.14 per $100 of assessed value, which means that my tax bill will be, by $1,142, greater than last year, which is outrageous!
I have seen the real-estate taxes usually increase two to three times the inflation rate, year after year and decade after decade. I understand that overall tax assessments increased an average of 9.5 percent countywide this year. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Consumer Price Index (inflation rate) for the year 2021 was 4.7 percent.
The Board of Supervisors should lower the tax rate 10 cents to $1.04. In an overall $9 billion budget, they should be able to reduce it, particularly as Fairfax County Public Schools has lost 10,000 students (yet the school budget continues to rise – why is that?).
The county government also is proposing to issue more bonds in 2023 and future years. For fiscal 2023, the debt for bond interest is $43.9 million, or 2.8 percent of the county budget. Why does the county government feel it must keep issuing bonds?
Charles McAndrew, Oak Hill