Fairfax County employees will get a 2 percent raise starting Sept. 24 — their first pay increase in three years. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously for the raise, a compromise between the 1.5 percent raise the board was offering in July and the 3.5 percent raise the union wanted.
The raises will be paid for out of the county’s unexpected $104 million budget surplus.
Supervisors considered giving the workers a larger raise, but scaled it back because the county likely faces another budget shortfall next year.
“[Two percent] is probably less than what we need to be doing in terms of the market,” said Supervisor John Cook, R-Braddock.
County Executive Anthony Griffin expects a budget shortfall of $100 million to $125 million next year, so supervisors set aside $28.7 million as a reserve they could draw on then.
“We don’t want to make it more difficult for us to address compensation and other issues in the next budget cycle,” said Chairwoman Sharon Bulova, D-at large.
Twenty people signed up to testify at Tuesday’s public hearing — far more than normal, observers noted. Most spoke in favor of the raise.
“The standard of living for your employees has been rolling backward for three years now,” said Randy Creller, chairman of the Employees Advisory Council, citing rising costs of fuel, food and health care.
County workers were used to getting 5 percent annual raises until the board froze salaries in 2009, he said. “Whatever the final approved number is, it will not even come close to the 15 percent in lost wages as a result of the pay freezes in the past three budget cycles,” Creller said.
Some residents urged the county to save the money, not spend it, citing the predicted budget shortfall and an underfunded retirement system.
“The rest of America went without pay raises for three years,” Herndon resident Dave Webster said.
The board voted to use part of the $28.7 million reserve to provide trash pickup and debris removal in parts of the county damaged by recent flooding. It also approved spending another $250,000 for traffic improvements around the county that were cut from the state’s road budget.
“This is just one more example of the commonwealth declaring surpluses and putting the burden on the county to pay for services,” said Supervisor John Foust, D-Dranesville.
