City of Fairfax City Council Special Meeting: Budget Adoption, Tuesday, May 5, 2026

What was decided · How each member voted

• 3.a Approved, unanimously, an ordinance readopting Chapter 90, Article II, Division 1, Section 90-33 of the Code of the City of Fairfax, Virginia, pertaining to classification and taxation of certain real property in the City of Fairfax used for or zoned for commercial and industrial purposes. Such ordinance shall include a tax rate for such real property for calendar year 2026 of $0.125 per $100 of assessed value, revenues from which to be used exclusively for transportation purposes that benefit the City of Fairfax. · Unanimous Official minutes (Granicus)
• 3.b Approved, unanimously, an ordinance amending and readopting Chapter 102, Article II, Section 102-31(b) of the Code of the City of Fairfax, Virginia to increase the rates for wastewater services by 6.0 percent. · Unanimous Official minutes (Granicus)
• 3.c Approved, unanimously, an ordinance amending and readopting Chapter 102, Article V, Section 102-203(b), setting the rate per billing unit to be used in calculating the stormwater utility fee for the calendar year beginning January 1, 2026 at $36.02. · Unanimous Official minutes (Granicus)
• 3.d Approved, 4-2, Councilmembers Hall and McQuillen opposed, an ordinance amending Chapter 90, Article VI, Section 90-262 of the Code of the City of Fairfax, Virginia, pertaining to the levy and amount of the meals tax. Further moved to set the meals tax rate for the City of Fairfax at 4.5% effective July 1, 2026. · 4-2, Councilmembers Hall and McQuillen opposed Official minutes (Granicus)
• 3.e Approved, unanimously, that the City Council approve the attached ordinance amending Chapter 90 (Taxation), Article VII (Transient Occupancy Tax), Section 90-302, pertaining to the levy and rate of the same. · Unanimous Official minutes (Granicus)
• 3.f Approved, unanimously, to adopt an ordinance amending Chapter 14 (Businesses), Article II (Licenses), Division 2 (Classification of Certain Businesses), of the Code of the City of Fairfax, Virginia, pertaining to a proposed increase in the levy and amount of annual license taxes on certain business classifications. · Unanimous Official minutes (Granicus)
• 3.g Approved, unanimously, to adopt the General Fund, Capital Fund, Wastewater Fund, Stormwater Utility Fund, Cable Grant Fund, Old Town Service District Fund, Transit Fund, Transportation Tax Fund, and Debt Service Fund FY 2027 Budgets, as presented by the City Manager, together with the proposed FY 2027 Schedule of Rates and Levies, the FY 2027-2031 Capital Improvement Program, the FY 2027 health benefit contribution rates (Attachment II), a 2.0% market rate adjustment to general pay scales effective July 1, 2026, a 1.0% cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for general employees effective July 1, 2026, 1 2.0% COLA for public safety employees effective July 1, 2026, a 3.0% salary adjustment increase effective January 1, 2027 for eligible general scale employees, and the programmed annual step increase for public safety employees. The motion had previously been amended unanimously, to incorporate all changes included in the budget adjustment document (Attachment I). · Unanimous Official minutes (Granicus)
• 3.g Approved, unanimously, to set the real estate tax rate effective as of January 1, 2026 at $1.0725 per one hundred dollars of assessed value, set the personal property and machinery and tools tax rate effective as of January 1, 2026 at $4.13 per one hundred dollars assessed valuation based upon the assessment ratio of one hundred percent of fair market value, and set the personal property tax rate effective as of January 1, 2026 at $.01 per one hundred dollars assessed valuation for those members of volunteer fire departments or volunteered rescue squads qualifying under the city code. · Unanimous Official minutes (Granicus)
• 3.g Approved, unanimously, the appropriation resolutions for the general, capital, wastewater, transit, stormwater utility, cable, old town, transportation tax, and debt service funds for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2026, reflecting all changes approved as part of the FY 2027 budget adoption, immediately prior to this action. · Unanimous Official minutes (Granicus)

Moments worth watching

• 00:00:46

  Item 2.a Public hearing on appropriation resolutions for the General, Capital, Wastewater, Transit, Stormwater, Cable, Old Town, Transportation Ta…Copy link𝕏 Post

• 00:01:41

  Public comment / public hearing begins.Copy link𝕏 Post

• 00:05:10

  Item 3.a Consideration of an ordinance amending and readopting Chapter 90, Article II, Division 1, Section 90-33 of the Code of the City of Fairfa…Copy link𝕏 Post

• 00:08:27

  Item 3.b Consideration of an ordinance amending Chapter 102, Article II, Section 102-31Copy link𝕏 Post

• 00:12:13

  Item 3.c Consideration of an ordinance amending Chapter 102, Article V, Section 102-203Copy link𝕏 Post

• 00:14:28

  Item 3.d Consideration on an ordinance amending Chapter 90Copy link𝕏 Post

• 00:18:26

  Item 3.e Consideration on an ordinance to amend Chapter 90Copy link𝕏 Post

• 00:22:20

  Item 3.f Consideration on an ordinance amending Chapter 14Copy link𝕏 Post

• 00:27:19

  Item 3.g Consideration and appropriation of the FY 2027 BudgetCopy link𝕏 Post

Times are approximate and open the official meeting video (City of Fairfax video archive (Granicus)) at that point. Search every spoken word in Find the Moment. Machine transcript (speech-to-text); check the video before quoting.

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